Oh, I'm Attached All Right (T version)
by TheLoneRebels 2.0
Summary: *EDITING TO NEW WRITING STLYE!* Kanan meets Hera when they're both teenagers. Ahsoka goes Lux hunting. Kanan will find Ezra shortly after the young boy is orphaned. Zeb loses (and maybe finds?) his true love. Sabine will go undercover for her people and encounter a blue eyed boy who fascinates her. The twins find each other sooner. Ben finds a new love. Written as Kanera's AU HEA.
1. Attachments

****Hello there!****

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****Disclaimer: I don't own any Star Wars characters and any OC's that resemble real people are entirely coincidental.****

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****Warning: This story is going to be a strong T with swearing and scenes of a romantic and frisky nature. :D****

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****There is an explanation of how my calendar works and a list of helpful translations for my commonly used Star Wars words in 'Flame of Hope - Everyone' if you're curious.****

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****This story is dedicated to Kanan Jarrus. May you forever rest in peace within the Force.****

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****The first part of this story is co-written with MaybeImARebel.****

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****A/N: This is an A.U. story that gives our favourite Ghost crew a somewhat happier beginning. Things to note: Kanan / Caleb is 3 years older than canon so he fights the entirety of the Clone Wars with his Master. Hera is also older than her canon age so that Kanan isn't way too old for her (like a certain smuggler and princess). And Ezra will now be a year older than Sabine for plot reasons.****

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****Oh, I'm Attached All Right****

****Attachments:****

__D323/22 BBY__

Only days after the war was officially over on Ryloth, just turned fourteen year old Caleb Dume and his Master, Depa Billaba, were in charge of the relief supply mission for the battle torn planet.

The Twi'lek General called Cham Syndulla, his resistance fighters, Master Windu, Master Kenobi, and Knight Skywalker had won the planet back from the Separatist Occupation, but at great cost to the population of the Outer Rim planet. The Twi'leks were starving. Much of their food had been pillaged by the Separatists and most of the crops either destroyed by the war or neglected due to the lack of people left to attend them.

The Jedi met with Syndulla at his impressive home in the Tann province. The imposing orange skinned male loomed over Caleb as he greeted them with a serious and courteous expression. "Thank you for coming, Master Billaba. Your assistance is greatly appreciated," Syndulla said as he bowed slightly but respectfully to Caleb's Master.

She smiled warmly and nodded her head in return. "You are most welcome, General Syndulla. Allow me to introduce my Padawan, Caleb Dume."

The auburn haired boy stepped forward bravely, and bowed slightly more than Syndulla had, showing more respect to the older, more experienced man. "It is nice to meet you, General."

Syndulla nodded in acknowledgement. "Welcome, young Jedi." He gestured them into the main foyer of the mansion built inside a mountain. "Please, come in. Can I offer you some refreshments? Caf?"

His Master politely refused, knowing resources were tight for them right now. "We are fine, thank you."

As they walked through the big, beautifully constructed foyer that spoke of past wealth with its sheer emptiness, Caleb's eyes were drawn to movement from down a side hallway, followed by an echoing female voice shouting "C1-10P! Get back here! I wasn't done with you!"

A beat up looking astromech with seared orange and yellow paint on his flat-topped dome came zooming into the room, beeping frantically in Binary about not wanting a new paint job and that he liked his old paint, kriff you very much.

Caleb suppressed a chuckle as the droid tried to hide behind an unimpressed Syndulla, but the light green Twi'lek girl in worn overalls and a long-sleeved white shirt that wasn't very white anymore that came marching into the room after him wasn't having any of the droids evasion tactics as she stomped over to the astromech and kicked the veritable rustbucket in the side.

__Wow, is she ever pretty, __Caleb thought with wide eyes.

"Chopper!" she scolded as Syndulla turned despairingly amused orange eyes down on the pair. "You are going to get new paint whether you like it or not! Now stop hiding behind father before I..." The girl's words came to a sudden stop as she realized there were more people in the room. Her emerald eyes darted from Caleb to Depa and then back to Caleb, before she blushed darker and looked at the ground. "I'm sorry, Father. I didn't know we had guests," she said quietly in a heavy Ryl accent. Which was very interesting, since she'd hardly had any accent at all when she was yelling at the astromech.

Syndulla almost cracked a smile. "It is alright, Daughter. Come. Meet our guests. These are the Jedi with more supplies for our people. Master Depa Billaba and her Padawan, Caleb Dume." Syndulla glanced at said guests before gesturing to his daughter. "And this is my daughter, Hera. She is all I have left."

Caleb could see and sense the pride the man had in his very pretty daughter. __And also mechanically inclined, if the grease on her overalls is anything to go by. Nice. __

Hera walked up to the strangers, her embarrassment fading away at their nonjudgmental and open expressions. She bowed respectively to the tall-for-a-female Jedi Master with long, looped braids and they exchanged smiles of greeting. "Hello. It is a pleasure to meet you."

"And I you."

Then Hera boldly looked at the boy dressed in layers of tunics in varying shades of dark green, plus trousers, tall boots, and robe in more shades of brown. Aside from approving of his unique-for-a-Jedi choices in attire, and thinking he had a cute face for a Human, she was drawn to his astonishingly beautiful and thickly lashed teal eyes. A jolt of something unnamed and unknown shot through her, awareness tingling through every millimetre of her twelve year old body.

Hera didn't know it yet, but that instant connection meant that she'd found her fated mate.

She almost forgot how to speak for a moment as their gazes locked, but then words finally tumbled out, her native accent thick from emotion. "Hello to you too. Welcome to our home."

Caleb blinked, and had to consciously remind himself to keep his mouth closed, because the girl suddenly wasn't just pretty, but the most exquisitely stunning girl he'd ever seen. He actually felt his heart pick up speed and his palms grow sweaty. Her eyes were the most perfect shade of emerald green, and her nearly lime green skin was literally his favourite colour in the galaxy. (Unfortunately, the Council wouldn't let him wear it, but had at least conceded to dark green tunics. It helped that he was the Grandpadawan of the Master of the Order.) Her facial features were elegant and looked like they belonged on royalty. Her shoulder blade length lekku were just flat out adorable from where they poked out from a white cap. And her Force signature was bright and incredibly pure, like a young star.

But best of all was her voice. Her melodious alto voice. It gave him literal chills, it was so perfect. Either with or without the accent, which seemed to come and go depending on her comfort level. Caleb gulped, and tried frantically to remember how to speak. "Hhh... Hi," he finally managed, then mentally smacked himself. __Smooth, Dume. Real smooth. __"I'm Caleb," he added, then mentally face palmed. __Idiot! She already knew that!__

Hera giggled as his pale Human skin flushed bright red. "Hi, Caleb. It's nice to meet you. I wish I could stay and talk, but Chopper and I have a long overdue date with a paint sprayer."

"No we fragging don't!" the droid beeped out in protest, taking off down a different hallway.

"See what I mean?" Hera said with a smirk and a roll of her pretty eyes. She waved goodbye as she took off after her droid.

Caleb could hear her chastising the droid all the way down the hallway. "You get back here this instant C1-10P or you're seriously going to regret it! As is, we're going to have make an adjustment to your programming. Your manners in front of guests are atrocious!" Her voice even sounded angelic when she was scolding a droid and fading away. Caleb wanted her to come back. He wanted to hear her talk some more. He wanted to look at her some more. He just flat out wanted. And his feelings scared and confused him because he'd never felt like this before.

He was so focused on these new feelings that he barely hear Syndulla apologize for the rude and possibly malfunctioning droid that his daughter had rescued from a crashed Y-Wing during the battle a few days ago.

Caleb startled out of his near trance when Master Depa sent a quick burst of disapproval down their bond. He glanced over at her, ashamed. __Right. Jedi aren't allowed to have feelings like that. Oops. __Caleb breathed deeply as they followed Syndulla deeper into the house, centering himself again. With one last thought of longing for what would never be, Caleb put the Twi'lek girl out of his mind.

At least, for now.

* * *

Later, after delivering the supplies to the towns and villages that needed them the most, General Syndulla departed their ship with one last sentence. "If either of you ever need anything, my home is always open to the Jedi." With a final bow of farewell, the large Twi'lek male took his leave, and headed back to his home.

Caleb shrunk a little in the co-pilot chair when Depa glanced at him as she flew the ship through the atmosphere and up into space. "Do we need to talk about all the feelings that were taking over you earlier?"

Caleb shook his head emphatically, making his short braid swing. "Nope. No. I'm good. I have it under control. Sorry Master. I was just surprised, that's all. I promise it won't happen again."

Depa raised a brow, a hint of humour running down their developing bond. "I'm sure."

Caleb sunk even lower in his chair, trying to hide within himself. Losing control of his emotions was not a good way to impress his new Master of only a few months. __How kriffing embarrassing.__

* * *

That night, while they flew through hyperspace back to Coruscant, an image of the girl appeared in his mind again as Caleb was drifting off to sleep. A small smile formed on his lips. He might not ever see her again, and he might not be allowed to actually feel anything about her, but he still considered her to be the best birthday present he'd ever received.

For what teenage boy didn't like to have something nice to dream about?

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Back on Ryloth, Hera flopped on her bed after putting on a soft nightgown and hugged her pillow to her chest and sighed. She dreamily stared at her ceiling without actually seeing it. In her mind, all she saw was the totally hot Human boy she'd met that day. __And not just any boy. A Jedi boy. __

She mouthed his name to herself. 'Caleb Dume.' __What a great name.__

His teal green eyes had haunted her mind all day, how they'd seemed to see all the way into her soul. She liked his short, soft looking reddish brown hair, too, with its little braid hanging behind his right ear. Her fingers still itched with the urge to touch it. And he'd been tall, too, for a young teenager; actually a few centimetres taller than herself. Which wasn't easy to do, since she felt freakishly tall for a girl. She blamed her father for that. __I certainly didn't get my height from Mom. __

Hera cut off that line of thought quickly or she'd start weeping again. Her mother was gone, lost in the war a few months ago. She focused instead on the image of the boy in her mind. He was so much better to think about. Hera sighed again. __Caleb.__

Chopper beeped inquiringly from where he'd parked himself protectively by her bed. She turned her head and looked at him, with his brand new, painstaking orange and yellow paint job that had taken her hours to do since he kept moving at the wrong moment and making her mess up. She'd actually had to turn him off to get it done. "It's nothing, Chopper. Just a boy. You wouldn't understand."

Chopper beeped back, "This young organic?" before showing a holo image of Caleb that he must have recorded in the few minutes that they'd been in the same room.

Hera gasped and jumped off the bed, tossing her pillow aside. "Chopper!" She hugged the droid. "Oh Chop, you're the best droid ever! Don't ever erase that image. Please."

Chopper beeped, "Okay."

Hera hugged him one more time. She got up and slipped under the covers on her bed, putting her pillow back where it belonged, before curling up on her side facing her droid. "Can you leave that image on for me until I go to sleep?"

Chopper beeped an affirmative. Hera smiled at him as she eagerly drank in the image of Caleb Dume, one of the Jedi superheroes that had saved her people.

* * *

__D365/20 BBY, Kaller__

__Depa woke on a gasp. The Force was screaming at her, Caleb's nearly overwhelming fear making her choke as it flooded their bond. The Jedi Master struggled out of her sleeping bag, calling her lightsabre into her hand and igniting the green blade as she surged out of her tent. __

__Her eyes widened in horror as she emerged to find her entire battalion of clones pointing their blasters at her and Caleb, who had already emerged from his tent, with blue sabre held at the ready. Most of the clones were dressed only in their black bodysuits since it was the middle of the night, making them look like wraiths in the intermittent dark. "Why?" she asked Commander Grey.__

__By the light of the moon, the campfires, and their lightsabres, Grey looked back at her with emotionless eyes. In fact, every single one of her comrades in arms were looking at them with emotionless dark eyes, his pupils blown wide. It sent a frisson of fear down her spine. "Because you are a traitor. You must die. All Jedi must die."__

__Without any further warning, hundreds of blasters fired at Caleb and Depa, their lightning fast Jedi reflexes saving them for a moment from all of the shots aimed directly for their chests and heads. __

__Their lightsabres flew as they struggled for their lives, but the clone troopers just kept shooting. Hundreds of them. Against two. They never stood a chance. Depa cried out when Caleb fell to the ground, tears running down her cheeks and making it even harder to see. He had been felled by a bolt to the head that had made it past his defences. __

__Her moment of inattention was enough. A bolt made it past her lightsabre and hit her in the chest. As she fell, her last sight was of her beloved Padawan's sightless teal eyes.__

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Depa woke on a gasp, tears streaming down her face, just like in her vision. "Caleb," she whispered. She sent a warning down the bond, which she felt him acknowledge. Grabbing a bag with the most important thing she owned in it, she slipped out of her tent as quietly as possible, unlit lightsabre gripped fiercely in hand.

Her precious Padawan of three and a half years emerged from his tent, lightsabre also ready at a moment's notice, eyes wide with curiosity. Depa thrust the bag at the tall and lanky teenager that now topped her by almost a whole head. "Take this and run. Run, Caleb. Now. I'll be right behind you."

Caleb looked at his Master, the deadly serious expression on her face filling him with trepidation. "But why?"

Depa narrowed her eyes at him. "It doesn't matter." She shoved him in the direction of the hill. "Go!"

So Caleb ran, all the way to the top of the hill, but he came to a stop when he heard blaster fire. Lots of it. He looked back and saw the entire battalion of clones, including his longtime friends Grey and Styles, shooting at his Master. Her green lightsabre was nearly a blur as she stood like an untamable warrior goddess between them and Caleb, her long dark hair loose and whipping in the sudden wind around her beige dress clad body.

His heart all but stopped. "Master!" he screamed, and started running back down the hill.

He'd only taken two steps when he heard her voice in his head and felt an almost overwhelming urge to do as ordered. "__RUN, CALEB__!" He came to a halt again. She'd never actually said words in his head before, and she'd paired it with the strongest burst of Force Persuasion she could muster. It was just enough to make him obey against his protective instincts. His mind was screaming _'___No! No, no, no, no!' __even as his feet carried him away from her.

As he topped the hill again, he looked back one more time, only to see the woman who was like his mother in all but name fall, shot hundreds of times as her lightsabre fell from her limp hand. __Master. Oh, Depa, why?__

As one, the clones looked up at Caleb silhouetted in the night sky by the moon behind him. "Get the traitor!" yelled Commander Grey.

Heart broken and lodged somewhere up near his throat, Caleb turned and ran for his life towards Plateau City, which glowed in the distance, igniting his lightsabre and blocking the shots that came too close as he ran. He didn't even look back, letting the Force direct his arm and give wings to his feet, eyes too full of tears to be able to see much anyway.

Finally reaching the edge of the city after having left the murderous clones behind, Caleb slunk into the nearest dark alley and lost himself in the maze of narrow streets. His first instinct was to head for the spaceport, but he knew that was the first place the clone troopers would look for him. So for now, he'd stay in the city, hiding.

He stole new clothes and food to survive, hiding under a hooded cloak and pretending to be an old man. When he found a decent place to hole up in an abandoned building, the emotional numbness that had temporarily sunk in wore off. He collapsed to the floor in a corner and curled into himself, icy cold tears streaming down his face as his shoulders shook with the undoubtedly loud and ugly sobs he was barely holding in.

After a while, when he felt drained to the core, he wiped the remaining teardrops off his face and sniffed pathetically, his sinuses clogged even worse than that terrible cold he'd had last year. Taking the bag off his belt, the one Depa had given him, he opened it and pulled out the object he already knew was in there. Caleb glared at the holocron in his hand. "Why?" he demanded from it. "Why did she make me run? Why did the clones turn on us? They called me a traitor, but I know I'm not. I serve the Republic, just like they do. Don't they?"

When the holocron did nothing, not even bothering to open, Caleb lost it. He threw the precious cube across the room, and watched with satisfaction as it bounced off the wall and disappeared into a corner.

Not even a minute of glaring at the dark corner later, he'd already come to regret his rash actions. __Shit! What did I do? That's all I have left of her!__

Jumping to his feet, he retrieved the holocron and cradled it to his chest, relieved that it didn't seem broken. This was the last thing his Master had given him. And it was important to her. He'd treasure it forever or die trying.

Caleb sank back to the floor, holding the holocron like a lifeline to his chest as the unwanted tears started again. "Why?" he whispered to the Force.

It didn't answer. But it seemed to be hurting just as much as he was, which was no consolation at all.

* * *

__1 day later, Ryloth__

Cham and Hera sat in stunned silence for endless minutes after watching the breaking news bulletin. It was beyond unbelievable. And Hera said so, with arms crossed and jaw set. "I'm not buying it. The Jedi would never betray the Republic. They were good people."

Cham put a comforting hand on her shoulder. "I agree. I think we're being fed a load of bantha poodoo. The timing is just too convenient. The Jedi are executed for treason and the Chancellor suddenly takes over, changing the political system from a Galactic Republic to a Galactic Empire, all in the space of a couple of days? Definitely something wrong with that picture."

Hera huffed. "How can they get away with it? Doesn't anyone else see this is wrong?"

Her father sighed at the injustice. "I think not. People are willingly blind to what is happening around them. They just want to live the easiest way possible. Not the right way."

"Well I'm never going to live like that, with my head buried in the sand," Hera vowed. "I'm going to fight for what is right. Always." With that, Hera marched out of the room, lekku stiff with determination. Cham watched his daughter with pride and worry. __What kind of trouble is she going to get into, with that kind of spirit?__

Hera went to her room, with Chopper following behind her. She closed the door and sank onto her bed, utterly dejected. "Please turn on the image, Chop."

Chopper beeped, and the latest holo image of Caleb Dume from the holonews appeared from one of his most recent battles on Cato Neimoidia. Some reporter had somehow managed to capture him fighting in a back to back circle of him, his Master, and Generals Kenobi and Skywalker on one of the city bridges against what had to be a few thousand battle droids while their clone troopers moved in from the outside edges and above.

Chopper had worked his magic and separated out Caleb so his life-sized image stood alone now in her room, still wearing his signature green tunics but with his padawan braid much longer and hanging down in front of his broad shoulder. His expression was of calm concentration as he wielded his lightsabre easily. He was so handsome now, nearly all grown up, he literally took her breath away.

Looking at it now, all the image did was break her heart at the loss of such an incredible young man whom the news and holonet had latched onto as their second favourite Jedi after the handsome and courageous Anakin Skywalker now that (former) Padawan Tano had literally disappeared from existence after she'd almost been executed for something she didn't do.

A tear ran down Hera's cheek, which she quickly wiped away. She gazed at Caleb's beautiful eyes for a moment, then turned her head away. "Delete it, Chopper. Delete them all. He's gone. There's no point keeping his images anymore."

Chopper beeped, "Are you sure?"

Hera lay down on her side facing away from the droid and curled up around her pillow. Her, "Yes. I'm sure," was barely audible and actually made Chopper whimper a bit in sympathy.

"All right," he beeped softly.

But the smart droid kept the many holoimages of his mistress' favourite obsession in his memory banks, just in case.


	2. Sanctuary

****A/N: To anyone who's read this story before, just like with the first chapter, there's a bit of new stuff in this one that didn't exist before. Please feel free to find it. :P ****

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****Sanctuary:****

__D3/19 BBY, Kaller__

Caleb left his temporary shelter for hopefully the last time.

It had been more than three days since he had reluctantly run for his life. He was hoping the clones would have given up their search for him by now.

Keeping to the shadows as much as possible, he made for the spaceport. He had to get off this planet. He had to get home to Coruscant. Hopefully he could get answers there. Someone had to know why the clones had called him a traitor. Even if they didn't, the Jedi Council would be able to look into the matter.

The streets were quiet in the early hours of the morning. No one was awake to see the shadow silently flit through the streets and back alleys.

In what felt like only a breath of time, Caleb arrived at the wall that surrounded the spaceport. Not wanting to go through the main gate, which he was sure had video surveillance, he leapt for the top of the wall. Landing lightly on the narrow ledge in a crouch, he quickly swept the area. Not seeing anyone, he jumped down, landing silently like a lithe tooka. __Now, to find a suitable ship to stow away on.__

Caleb didn't even bother looking at the public transport ships. There would never be a place to hide in those, and they usually had some sort of video surveillance as well. He needed a private ship. Preferably something not Kalleran made since there was a better chance of it actually leaving the system.

Not finding exactly what he was looking for, he settled on the next best thing; a red and black painted Kalleran freighter that appealed to him for some reason that he didn't question. Freighters usually carried goods. Hopefully this one also left the system. Caleb stopped by the closed entrance to the KST-100 and focused his senses even more than he already was. He sagged slightly in relief upon not finding any Force signatures inside.

Holding his right hand towards the door, he concentrated on unlocking it and making it open. The door popped open with a quiet hiss, and Caleb's lips twitched into a temporary smile.

The young Jedi entered and closed the door behind him with a wave of his hand. __Next up, a place to hide.__

He wandered the ship for a few minutes, making a mental map of it. When that was done, he hit the refresher for a brief but much needed shower, grabbed a couple days worth of pre-packaged rations from a large stash in the galley, then tossed his bag into a vent. It was a tight squeeze, but the teenager got his shoulders into the opening. He was grateful to see that at least the duct work was somewhat wider than the entrance. Caleb crawled through the ducts until he was fairly certain he was in a location near the engine of the ship where he wouldn't be easily heard, and at an intersection, so he had more space.

Getting as comfortable as possible, lying on his back with his shoulders in the intersection and his head resting on his linked hands, Caleb settled in to wait. Closing his eyes, he concentrated on his breathing and cleared his mind. Meditation would help him pass the time and help him deal with the loss of his Master.

* * *

__Caleb dreamed he was flying through hyperspace. __

__He was sitting in the co-pilot's chair of a ship design that he didn't recognize, hands behind his head, feet on the dash, not a care in the world. A droid beeped behind him. Caleb turned his head to see what the droid wanted, but his eyes stopped at the beautiful light green Twi'lek girl in the pilot's chair, eyes intent on a datapad. Caleb smiled. "Hera, Chopper's asking you a question."__

__The Twi'lek lifted her eyes to meet his and grinned mischievously. "I know, Kanan. I'm ignoring him right now. He hasn't fixed the ship's comms yet like I asked him to."__

__Caleb laughed while Chopper beeped disgustedly and stormed out of the bridge, cursing in Binary the whole way. Caleb got up. "I'm going to get some caf. You want me to bring some back for you, darling?"__

__Hera nodded, smiling. "Thank you, love."__

__Caleb placed a kiss on her temple and then left the cockpit.__

* * *

Caleb woke wearing his first smile in days. He loved when he dreamed of Hera. She was soooo much better than the nightmare of his Master's death that he'd been having for the last couple of nights. He wished he'd get more Hera dreams, but they only showed up a few times a month. This was a new one too, and it had felt so real.

Caleb ran through the dream again in his mind, pausing on the image of Hera. She was older in this one. Maybe eighteen. He was convinced that she only became more beautiful with age, her face a little less round and her cheekbones more pronounced.

Then his brows furrowed in confusion as something she said suddenly registered. __Well, kriff. Did dream Hera just call me Kanan?__

Caleb's heart sank. __Maybe she wasn't talking to me at all. Maybe I was dreaming of Hera with another guy. Could that possibly suck any more? Does the Force hate me now, too?__

Disappointed more than he was quite willing to admit if he wanted to continue to call himself a Jedi, he forced himself to put the girl he'd only met once, and for two minutes total, out of his mind. It was stupid of him to dream of her anyway considering what he was. Jedi weren't allowed to form attachments, as he'd been informed about a thousand times over the years.

__So what do you call the Master / Padawan bond then? Most of us love our Masters like the parents we never got to have. Isn't that attachment? __

__Well, whatever it was, I doubt I'll ever have a bond like that with someone again. __

__I'm not even sure if I would want another one anyway, considering how much it hurts to lose one.__

He wasn't sure what would happen to him now that his Master was gone, but maybe one of the other Jedi Masters who didn't have a Padawan would be willing to take him on (attachment free, of course). But it wasn't an ideal situation by any means. The biggest problem was that he was a little old to start a new partnership, being sixteen. But most Padawans stayed with their Masters into their late teens or sometimes even their early twenties before taking the test to be a Jedi Knight and go off on their own.

Caleb didn't feel like he was anywhere near ready to be on his own.

__Which means I need a new Master.__

He sighed forlornly. He missed Depa desperately, having never felt so utterly lost and alone in his life. They'd been together for three incredibly intense years, fighting the war against the Separatists for almost the entirety of all of them, with the exception of a few breaks per year to recharge. His good friend and fellow (former) Padawan, Ahsoka Tano, had always joked that they'd had the epitome of On The Job training that most Padawans would never get and that they were the lucky ones.

He was startled from his musings when he heard the door of the ship open. Footsteps echoed through the hallway, heading for the cockpit. The engines started, rumbling through the framework of the ship as they warmed up. The footsteps came back down the hallway, pausing in the galley.

Suddenly, there was a pounding on the door of the ship. Caleb heard a muffled voice yell, "Open up in the name of the Emperor!"

__Wait. What Emperor? There is no Emperor of this planet. At least, there wasn't a few days ago.__

The footsteps stomped towards the door and he heard the door open again. "What do you want?" a grumpy voice said in Basic with a Kalleran accent.

"We're searching all ships leaving the city for a fugitive Jedi. Have you seen this boy?"

Caleb muffled a gasp with his hand. __Styles! I think that was Styles!__ It was hard to be one hundred percent sure, because the clones all tended to sound the same, but he'd been fighting side by side with Styles for so long, he could pick out the subtle differences in his tone compared to the others.

The grumpy voiced man hummphed. "There's no one on my ship but myself, but you can look if you want."

Taking Grumpy up on his offer, footsteps of at least three people walked through the ship, searching every room. "What's this Jedi done, anyway?" Grumpy asked.

"He is believed to be an accomplice in an effort by the Jedi to assassinate the Emperor. All the Jedi have been, or are being, executed for treason, as we find them," said Styles emotionlessly.

Caleb had to suppress another gasp. __ALL of the Jedi? All my friends and all the Knights and Masters are dead? Even the High Council? Even the virtually unbeatable Skywalker? Is that why the Force felt like it had been torn apart at the seams? Like it was hurting even more than I was? __

"Surely not all of the Jedi are guilty?" said Grumpy. "Aren't there thousands of them?"

"I don't know," said Styles. "I'm just following orders."

__What orders? And by whom? This can't be right. We would never assassinate whoever this Emperor is. That's not our way. We capture and bring to justice, not murder. __

As Caleb shook with shock and profound sorrow, Grumpy grunted and continued to follow the clones around his ship. When the extra footsteps left, he closed the door. "Poor Jedi, they don't deserve that," Grumpy muttered. "The ones I met didn't seem that bad."

__We're not. We're really not, I swear!__ Caleb thought fiercely as he hugged his shivering body, chilled to the bone in a way that had nothing to do with the ambient temperature of the ship.

Grumpy's heavy footsteps made their way back to the cockpit. Caleb felt the ship lift off the ground. A few minutes later, it jumped into hyperspace.

Caleb sighed in pathetic relief. __At least I'm off the planet and the clones can't get me anymore. __

Force knew where they were going, but he honestly didn't care. From the sound of things, he had no one to go home to anyway. __I'm all on my own now. __

He swiped half-heartedly at the tears trickling down his cheeks. __This can't be happening. __

__And yet it was. __

__A waking nightmare that might not ever end.__

__Stars, I wish this was just a nightmare that I could wake up from tomorrow. __

__I miss you, Master. Why didn't you run with me? There was time. I'm sure there was time. We would have made it out together.__

__But you stayed. And died. And I'm so alone!__

The broken teenage boy extracted the holocron from his bag and hugged it to his chest, quietly crying himself back to sleep.

* * *

Caleb woke again hours later in desperate need of a trip to the refresher.

Hearing no sounds coming from the ship, he hoped the pilot was asleep. Crawling as silently as possible, he found the vent that opened into the refresher and sighed in relief that he'd made it undetected.

As he was crawling back into the vent, he heard a voice. Master Kenobi's voice. __Oh kriff. The pilot is bound to hear that!__

He scrambled as fast as he could towards his corner, listening to Master Kenobi, who must have taken his suggestion about using the Temple Recall signal as a warning instead of a call home; a suggestion he'd randomly made during a class with the copper haired, smooth talking Jedi Master before he'd become Depa's Padawan.

****"This is Master Obi Wan Kenobi. I regret to report that both our Jedi Order and the Republic have fallen with the dark shadow of the Empire rising to take their place. This message is a warning, and a reminder for any surviving Jedi. Trust in the Force. Do not return to the Temple. That time has passed, and our future is uncertain. We will each be challenged. Our trust. Our faith. Our friendships. But we must persevere, and in time a new hope will emerge. May the Force be with you. Always."****

__Well, frag. I wish that hadn't just confirmed what I heard Styles say. __

Caleb was heartbroken all over again, but didn't have time to think about it, because Grumpy had been woken by the message. "All right, kid. I know you're in there!" a very annoyed voice yelled. "Come out, before I shoot you out!"

Caleb sighed. __My life is determined to just keep falling deeper and deeper into the sarlacc pit, isn't it?__

Concentrating for a moment, he turned the glowing blue holocron back off and packed it back into its bag. He then crawled towards the nearest vent, not seeing any point in travelling through the ductwork any longer than necessary.

He'd only taken a few steps in the hallway that ran past the engine room when a tall, green skinned with black stripes Kalleran male appeared around a corner, holding a blaster at the ready. Caleb raised his hands in surrender. He didn't want to fight him. To be perfectly honest, he didn't have the heart for it.

The amphibian humanoid came closer, blatantly looking Caleb up and down, then raised a brow in surprise as he holstered his blaster with a snort. "Why, you're even younger than I thought. Something tells me you had nothing to do with the attempt on the new Emperor's life."

Caleb kind of shrugged as he lowered his hands. "I don't know anything about it. I didn't even know there was an Emperor. I've been hiding for days, ever since my friends turned on us and killed my Master."

"I believe you. I don't know what I'm supposed to do with you. But I believe you."

"Please don't turn me in. I can help you, if you need a crew. I have nothing to go home to and no place to go."

Grumpy chuckled, amused and no longer sounding grumpy. (The nickname would probably have to go.) "I don't think you want to join me. I'm a smuggler. A little below your Jedi principles, I think."

Caleb thought about it for a moment. __How much are Jedi principles and teachings actually worth if all the Jedi are gone?__

__About as much as two credits in a ten thousand minimum ante sabacc game, that's how much. __

He looked at the Kalleran, his expression flat and hopeless. "The Jedi are dead. Everything I believed in is dead. I have to do something with my life. Being a smuggler at least sounds interesting. I'll work for free as long as it comes with some food and a place to sleep that's a little roomier than the ductwork. And I'm good in a fight." Caleb added as an afterthought.

Not-So-Grumpy laughed heartily. He walked over and clapped Caleb on the back, making the much smaller Human boy stumble forward a step. "I like you, kid. Welcome to my ship, the Kasmiri. Name's Janus Kasmir, but you can call me Kas or boss."

A small smile filled with relief appeared on Caleb's face. "Thank you, Kas. I'm Ca..."

Kas cut him off with a quick shake of his very large and pointy head. "No, you're not. I don't want to know your old name. You need to think of a new name. And until you do, I'll call you Kid."

Caleb blinked. __He's right. Caleb Dume is a fugitive with an execution order. I can't go by that name anymore. But I really don't want to be called Kid either. __"Really? Kid? I'm not that young. I'm sixteen!" he said indignantly, crossing his arms over his chest.

Kas grinned, showing a lot of sharp teeth. "Kid, when you've reached my age, sixteen is definitely in the category of young."

Caleb raised a questioning brow. "Really. How old are you then?"

Kas crossed his own arms, three fingered hands drumming. "Technically, that's none of your business, but let's just say that I was around your age when the Jedi and Mandalorians finally stopped destroying each other."

"Whoa." Caleb was seriously impressed. "You don't look anywhere near a hundred plus years old. Ninety at the very most," he teased the male who actually looked between thirty and forty, if he were a Human.

The wispy, fin-like ears on the Kalleran's head flattened to his skull as he snorted and rolled his green eyes. "Thanks."

Caleb grinned. "You're welcome."

"Brat."

"So my Master delights in reminding me on a thrice daily basis." Caleb's brief moment of happiness faded in an instant as he realized what he'd said. His dejected gaze fell to the decking and he stubbed the toe of his boot against it angrily. "At least, that's what she used to say," he muttered. "She'll never call me a brat again." __Or her Exasperating Punishment From the Force. Or her Master's Revenge. __

__Or her Precious Padawan. __

__Frag, I'm gonna make myself cry again at this rate. __

Kas cleared his throat uncomfortably, drawing Caleb's gaze back upwards. "Right. Well, I can't bring your Master back from the dead for you, or wipe out the entire clone army in retaliation, but I can keep you alive if you follow my lead."

"I can do that," Caleb said gratefully, wondering if the Force had guided him to this sanctuary. "Thank you for not turning me in."

The older male waved a negligent hand. "Think nothing of it. I've never been one to follow authority anyway, and this Empire business just rubs me the wrong way. If helping you is the best I can do towards sticking it to them, then that's what I'll do."

"Thanks again, anyway. I mean it."

Kas huffed. "Whatever. First thing we have to do is find you some clothes that don't scream, I'm a Jedi!"

Caleb looked down at his brown robe and layered green tunics and tabard and conceded the point. "I can lose most of this and can generally pass as a civilian, but I'll be cold."

"We'll find you a proper jacket, don't worry." Kas smirked. "You'll have to lose the lightsabre too. That's a dead giveaway."

Caleb automatically brushed a hand over the weapon that had kept him alive about a million times over by now. He looked up at Kas helplessly. "Ummmmm."

"Trust me. It's necessary. Can you shoot a blaster?"

He scrunched his face up. "Kinda? Styles and Grey tried to teach me once when my Master was away, but she came back early and we stopped cause I was afraid of getting in trouble. Never tried again."

"All right. We'll work on it. Next is this." Kas tugged gently on Caleb's long, thin braid that hung over his right shoulder. "This has to go too. It's a dead giveaway."

Caleb reached up and fingered his padawan braid. He'd forgotten about that. It was such a part of him, he didn't even feel it anymore. When he felt more tears try to start, he turned his face away and furiously wiped them away. G__row up and get over it, Caleb! Your old life is over!__

He turned back at Kas, who was looking at him knowingly with sympathy in his eyes. "All right." Caleb reached for his lightsabre, but then he hesitated. __Only Padawans who graduate to Knighthood get their braids cut off with a lightsabre. I'll never be a Knight now, so I shouldn't do it that way. Besides… I need to learn to do things without it. __"Do you have a knife?"

Smiling with approval, Kas pulled a folding knife out of a pocket and handed it to him. Caleb opened it and grasped the braid that symbolized his entire life with Master Billaba. Closing his eyes for a moment, he sucked in a breath and then sliced it off at the hairline.

He stared at the auburn braid in his hand in something like numb shock. __Kriff. I can't believe I just did that.__

His head felt funny now, like he'd just amputated an arm.

__Well, I amputated something, anyway. __

Caleb handed the blade back to Kas and straightened his shoulders in determination. He clenched the braid he'd been growing for three years tightly in his fist for a moment, then held it out to the Kalleran. "You got a place I can throw this out?"

Kas grinned and wrapped a long arm around Caleb's shoulders. "How about out the air lock? We can give your old life a proper Spacers burial."

__That sounds like just about how I feel about everything right now, no question. __Caleb nodded. "That's perfect. Thank you."


	3. Destiny

**Destiny:**

_D25/19 BBY, Lothal_

The Kasmiri came out of hyperspace in front of a pretty, light green and blue planet, consisting of a fairly balanced mix of continents and oceans. Caleb looked at the planet curiously. He'd been to a lot of planets with his Master, fighting the Clone Wars, but never to this one. "Where are we?" he asked Kas.

The Kalleran grinned as he flew the ship down through the atmosphere. "This is Lothal, Kid. A nice little backwater planet that grows some very nice produce that the desert planets are always eager to purchase. I have a few friends here too, that call this planet home."

Caleb gawked at the seemingly endless continent of grass intermixed with strange little round mountains that they were flying over. _Never seen anything like those before_.

They flew past a clean and well cared for little city and kept going, finally landing near a tiny settlement that gave new meaning to the term 'backwater'. It was also surrounded by more of the ocean-like late summer grass as it swayed in a timeless dance to an invisible breeze.

Kasmir stood up and stretched his long arms out gratefully before saying, "Come on, Kid. You're about to eat some of the best grub this side of the Mid Rim you can find."

Caleb dutifully followed Kas off the ship and through the haphazard buildings. They walked into a bar full of people and species of many descriptions who paused their conversations at their entrance for only a moment as they were assessed and dismissed as nonthreatening. He wasn't sure if he should be offended or not.

The boy kind of missed the days when people would hush when he and his Master entered an establishment, their expressions either respectful or frightened when they saw the proudly worn lightsabres that declared them to be Jedi, if their mode of dress didn't get the message across first.

Kas parked himself at the bar, leaning on the counter as he waited patiently to catch the attention of the busy Ithorian bartender. Caleb sat his rear on one of the few empty round topped stools beside his boss. Kas smiled in greeting when the giant slug-like being finally came over. "Jho! How's it been?"

It was hard to tell if the exceedingly wide mouth on the left side of Jho's neck smiled back, but he said, "Good, good. Been pretty quiet lately," through his translator. "No one's destroyed my bar for almost two straight months now, believe it or not."

Kas chuckled. "Yep, don't believe it."

"That's because you haven't been here to inspire riots, you scoundrel," Jho said with a definite twinkle in his glowing yellow eyes. "But how are you, my old friend? And who is this?"

Kas smirked at what he considered a compliment to his character. "I'm good. Things have been pretty interesting lately, as you can see. I picked up a new crew member. Jho, this is Kid. Kid, this is Jho."

Caleb rolled his eyes. "It's nice to meet you, Jho, but my name's not Kid. It's Ca..." _Oops!_ Caleb frantically scrambled to fix it, and spat out the first thing that came to mind. "Kanan. Yep. It's Kanan."

Kas smacked him in the back and guffawed. "Good save there, Ka Kanan."

Caleb flushed, as Kas and Jho laughed at him. "Whatever. It's better than Kid."

While the two elderly but ageless beings continued to talk, reminiscing about old times and smuggling routes, Caleb turned his back to the bar and absently watched the other people. They were eating, drinking, laughing, making eyes at the serving girls, playing cards and holo games; a little oasis of drifters with no worries on their minds at this very moment but if they might get lucky in one way or another.

As Caleb let his mind wander, he came to a sudden realization.

_My name is now Kanan. Forever. Caleb is officially no more. This is going to take some getting used to._ 'My name is Kanan. My name is Kanan,' he chanted under his breath to himself over and over.

Then his eyes widened again as he had another thought.

_Holy kark! What if the Kanan Hera was talking to in my dream actually WAS me?! Does that mean I'm going to see her again? Have a real relationship with her? We sure seemed like a couple in the dream. _Caleb's heart sped up at the thought.

_There's nothing to stop me from having feelings for her anymore. No disapproving Masters or stern Jedi Councils. My old way of life is dead. _

_Holy kriff. _

_I'm going to have a girlfriend! _

_Hopefully. _

_I don't know when, but someday in the future, I'm going to find Hera again._ His eyes narrowed in determination. _I'll make sure of it._

Kas nudged him out of his thoughts with an elbow. He was holding a couple plates of delicious smelling food. "Come on there, Ka Kanan. Let's go eat."

Caleb groaned and grabbed his plate, wondering how long his new friend was going to tease him about that. He followed Kas to a table that already had a few other people at it. They looked up at their approach. The one with the horns, one of them broken off at the top, broke out into a grin and jumped up to give Kas a manly half hug. "Kas! It's been too long! Where have you been, you old mooka?"

Kas set his plate down before it got spilled and pulled the green skinned Devaronian into a proper back slapping hug. "Just wandering the galaxy, Visago. Making trouble and skedaddling. Picking up stray puppies. You know. The usual."

Visago laughed, his red eyes twinkling and his sharp canines flashing, and sat back down, gesturing for them to join his table. He raised a hairless brow at Caleb. "I take it you're the stray puppy?"

Caleb nodded, picking up his fork. "That's me. Name's Kanan. Kas helped me out of a rough spot, and now I'm working for him. For free."

Visago snorted. "Typical. Not that you'd find a better deal anywhere else. Least ya got food to eat."

Caleb shovelled in a bite of whatever unknown, almost charred meat substance was on his plate, then blinked in surprise. _That's really good, whatever it is_. He attacked his food. _This beats ration packs and protein bars by a lightyear, easy._

Neither he nor Kas were particularly good cooks, and before that he'd lived on Military rations almost exclusively for three years straight as he fought the Clone Wars with his Master, interspersed with bland Temple fair. _Maybe I should learn to cook, if this is what real food tastes like._

While Kas and Visago talked, Caleb was doing something of a cross between inhaling the food on his plate while still savouring it and holding back groans of taste bud heaven. Their conversation about things he had no knowledge of wasn't particularly interesting, so he zoned them out. Instead, he started to imagine what life would be like with Hera and how soon he could possibly go find her again. _Hopefully my dreams weren't lying to me about her liking me back. That would really suck if she didn't and I'd based my whole new future on a false hope._

* * *

After dinner, they flew back to the city they had passed, picking up multiple crates of fresh fruit, filling the cargo hold to the brim. Then they took off again through hyperspace towards the desert planet of Tatooine, where Kasmir would sell his fruit for a tidy profit, right under the nose of the Hutt who lived there and liked to think he had a monopoly on the import business.

It wasn't their first trip to the miserable dust ball of a planet, and it wouldn't be their last. Caleb was just glad that they didn't live there.

And just like usual, his first move after working in the scorching hot Mos Eisley markets for a few hours was to shower off the grit that had attached itself to him thanks to the inevitable perspiration he'd earned the hard way. But this time, when Caleb picked up his razor to shave off his facial stubble afterwards, he paused as he glanced in the mirror.

_What if I left some of it? Let it grow? If I'm going to have a new name, maybe I should have a new look as well._ _So far, we haven't gone any place where I might run into someone who knows me, but you never know when that might change._

He stared at himself, trying to picture what he'd look like with a goatee and deciding that it was worth trying, anyway. _Yep. That's what I'm going to do. And I think I'll let my hair grow longer too, _he thought as he examined the short spikes all over his scalp that stood up thanks to a vigorous rubbing with a towel.

In a matter of only twenty hours, the official metamorphosis from Caleb to Kanan had begun.

* * *

_D83/19 BBY, Ryloth_

Hera and her father were shopping in Lessu, the capital city of Ryloth. Over the last three years, the city had slowly recovered from the war. Almost all of the merchants had opened their shops again. Destroyed buildings had been cleaned up and new buildings lined the streets. The feeling in the city for the last two was one of tentative hope that things were finally going to get better.

Hera was in a spare parts store, looking for a replacement part for one of the many downed fighters she was putting back together, even if that meant getting only one good one out of two. If she could get her latest project flying again, her father had said she could actually keep it for a month or two rather than selling it for credits right away.

Which meant that she'd get to practice her flying skills some more.

Hera loved to fly. She felt free when she was in the sky, away from all the trials of her past and the reminders of how their life used to be before the war. And to have a real fighter to fly would be a dream come true. Flying shuttles and freighters just wasn't enough. She wanted more. She wanted to go faster. She wanted more manoeuvrability. She just knew she could handle a fighter.

Chopper beeped from the next aisle over. "I found it!"

Hera dashed around and grabbed the part off the shelf. "Chopper, you're the best!"

He rumbled happily when she patted him on the dome.

Hera took the part to the counter and paid for it. Just as she was walking out the door, she heard a commotion from outside. Everyone was looking towards the end of the street, so Hera did too, and gasped in dismay. A battalion of white clad troopers marched towards her, followed by a dozen armoured ground transports. A voice was playing over a loudspeaker from one of the lead transport.

**"This planet is now under Imperial control. Resistance will not be tolerated. This planet is now under Imperial control. Resistance will not be tolerated."**

The message repeated over and over as the parade marched past her and her heart sank to the pit of her stomach. _Oh stars. Not again. Not. A. Gain._

Cham appeared at his daughter's side, carrying an armful of packages. He narrowed his eyes and growled deep in his chest at the Imperial army. "This is unbelievable. We just won our planet back from the Separatists and now these Imperial blurrg droppings think they can just march in and take over?" He huffed. "Not while I'm still alive, that's for kriffing sure."

Cham glanced down at his daughter, who looked ready to go beat them up single handed, her hands in fists and eyes spitting green fire. He shifted things around and put a hand on her shoulder. "Easy, Hera. We can't fight them like this. We need to get the Resistance Fighters back together. This is going to take some planning."

Hera looked up at her father, then back down the street at the back of the parade. "I hate them! I used to like the clones! But they killed the Jedi, and now they're stealing our planet!"

Cham sighed. "I know, Hera. We'll fight them. I promise. First, we must prepare."

* * *

_D360/19 BBY, Ryloth _

The green painted Y-Wing fighter came out of nowhere, attacking the Imperial convoy with precision. Each well placed shot took out the guns on the tops of the transports. As the fighter circled around for a second pass, it shot the walls of the canyon in front of the first transport, causing all four of them to come to a screeching halt or run into the rocks and rubble. Over the comm on General Syndulla's vambrace, a smug female voice said, **"Stage one complete, Freedom One. You're good to go."**

"Good job, Freedom Two. I'll see you at home." Cham watched the fighter fly away for a moment with pride shining in his eyes, before turning his attention to the transports below him. He nudged his blurrg and yelled, "Attack!" Dozens of blurrgs jumped over the edge of the cliff and stampeded towards the Imperial convoy.

Troopers leapt out of the transports, firing on the blurrgs and their Twi'lek riders. Cham and his resistance fighters fired back, with better success, since their targets were more stationary. Cham charged his blurrg all the way up to the first transport, bulldozing over a trooper on the way. He leapt off and jumped into the transport, blaster ready. The driver turned to fire at him, but he was too slow. The driver slumped over as Cham's single shot aimed at the helmet took him out.

Cham looked into the back, and growled. There was at least twenty Twi'lek girls in there, bound and gagged, ranging from twelve to eighteen years old. "I'll be right back," he told them. Cham jumped out of the transport, quickly assessing the situation. His fighters were dealing handily with the last of the troopers.

He walked up the line and glanced in all the transports. They were all full of Twi'lek girls.

Cham's rage at the new Empire grew. _How dare they steal my people! They're even worse than the Seppies! At least they only stole our food!_

Leaving his fighters to untie the other girls, he went back to the first transport only to find his best friend and right hand man, Gobi Glie, already there. He quickly helped the blue Twi'lek with the untying of the girls, as they cried their relief at being saved. "What are we going to do with them?" Gobi asked.

"We get them back to their families. And then, I think we'll have to advise that all the girls go into hiding for now. This is getting out of hand. This is the third shipment of girls we've stopped, and who knows how many we've already lost? We can't let them take any more of our females."

"No, we definitely can't," Gobi growled in agreement.

Cham left the transport, secure in the knowledge that his second would take good care of the girls, and jumped back on his blurrg, who had been faithfully waiting for him. Calling to his resistance fighters, he gave his final orders for the mission. "Dump the Imperial scumbags off to the side. Escort the girls to their homes. Spread the word that all underage females are to go into hiding for their own safety."

With that, Cham turned his blurrg towards his home, hours away by blurrg, and nudged it into the fastest pace it would go. It was time to have a talk with Hera. She was NOT going to like what he had to say, but he wasn't going to lose her too. Especially not to the Imperials to be sold as a slave girl.

* * *

"I won't do it! You need me! I'm the best pilot you have!" Hera stomped around the room, lekku twitching with agitation. She whirled around and jabbed a finger into her father's chest. "You cannot make me stay in this house forever!"

Cham stayed stalwart, arms crossed over his chest and face stern. "Yes. I can. I am not losing you, Hera. Not like this. Do you want to get caught and live the life of a slave, servicing whatever sleemo paid the highest price for you!?"

Hera wilted a little, no longer able to meet her father's piercing orange gaze. "No. But I still don't see why I can't at least do the flying missions. I won't get caught if I'm in a fighter. They won't even know who's flying it."

"And what if you get shot down and captured?" Not giving her time to answer, he continued. "You're staying in the house, and that's final." Cham turned his back to her, heart breaking at the look of betrayal in her eyes. "I'm sorry, Hera. But that's the way it has to be. At least until we chase the Imperials off our planet. Or you get older. They don't seem to be going after anyone over eighteen, so you only have three more years to go. I pray I don't have to make you stay in the house that long, though. For both our sakes."

Hera gave something that sounded suspiciously a lot like a growl to her father's back. "Fine. You win. I'll stay in the house. But I'm never talking to you again!" Hera stomped towards the exit with a muttered, "Come on, Chopper."

Chopper zapped Cham, before rolling after Hera. Cham jumped and whirled, growling at the droid who cursed back at him in Binary. _That thing was NOT normal!_

Cham felt like he deserved it, though, feeling like the worst father ever in a complete contradiction to his determined desire to keep her safe. He called to his precious daughter just before she cleared the door. "Hera." She stopped, shoulders stiff, and not turned around. "You can still work on the fighters. I know you enjoy that. The hanger is close enough to the house that it should be safe enough."

She nodded once, then left the room, her faithful droid following behind.

Cham sighed. _I can't believe it's come to this._

* * *

_D184/18 BBY, Takodana_

While Kas passed time with his fellow smugglers, Kanan spent the morning meditating deep in the forest, far from Maz Kanata's castle.

He soaked in the peace and quiet of the forest, as different from the noisy bar that housed the widest assortment of smugglers, pirates, and other riff raff that you could get. Despite technically no longer being a Jedi, Kanan had not been able to stop practicing the teachings he'd been raised with.

Meditation was what had gotten him through the loss of his old life, because even though all of his friends and Masters were gone, the Force was still there. It would always be there for him, as reliable and necessary as the sun in the sky. Kanan drew comfort from the Force every day, secure in the knowledge that somewhere in the vast entity of the Force, Depa was still our there, in some form.

As Kanan sat, letting his mind drift, the wind blew through the trees, creating a soothing rhythm for him to breathe to. He became the wind, the trees, the animals scurrying through the forest, his whole being just existing in the moment. With closed eyes, he fell deeper and deeper into the Force.

* * *

_He found Hera tinkering on an absolute wreck of a LAATi in a hanger, assisted by Chopper. "Hera," he called. "I have a present for you!" Hera emerged from deep in the gunship's engines, covered in grease, and looking even more beautiful than the last time he'd seen her. _

_Hera beamed at him as she walked towards him, wiping her greasy hands on a rag. "A present? Kanan, you've never given me a present before." She stopped in front of him, reached up to wrap her arms around his neck, but remembered her grease covered state, and dropped her arms. Instead she gave him a quick kiss on the cheek. _

_Kanan chuckled, and gathered her up in his arms, lifting her off the ground, pressing a proper kiss to her lips. "You can get me as dirty as you want, darling. You're worth it."_

_Hera laughed, and wrapped her arms around his neck, kissing him back. She pulled back and grinned. "You asked for it. Don't blame me when you can't get the grease stains out of your clothes though." _

_Kanan grinned and set her back on her feet. "Don't care. Clothes can be replaced." He grabbed her hand. "Come on. You need to see your present." Hera smiled as he tugged her along, towards the small people sized door at the back of the hanger. Before he opened it, he said, "Close your eyes."_

_Hera looked at him in surprise, but did as he asked. Kanan grabbed her other hand too, carefully leading her out the door and into the sunshine. Making sure she was positioned just right, he stood behind her, hands on her shoulders and said, "Happy birthday, Hera."_

_She opened her eyes and gasped. "Kanan! It's beautiful! Where did you get it?" She whirled around and kissed him soundly for a whole blissful minute, not giving him a chance to reply, before running towards her present._

_He grinned broadly, his whole body feeling full to overflowing with the joy she was radiating. He followed behind, enraptured with her, as she explored her present. This one moment alone made up for everything bad that had happened in his life. _

_She was perfect._

* * *

Kanan opened his eyes in wonder. _If that was a proper vision, then I don't think I can wait any longer to meet my future._

_Now all I have to do is get to Ryloth. No problem. _

_Yeah right. _

Snorting under his breath, he stood up and walked back towards the old castle. He needed to talk to Kas. A life with Hera was worth fighting for and giving up the comfortable life he'd found with the Kalleran.

Walking into the dim bar, Kanan searched for his friend/boss. He found him at a table playing sabacc with a bunch of lowlifes, including a glowering Weequay. Judging by the pile of loot in front of Kas, he was on a roll. _Go Kas. _

Not wanting to interrupt, Kanan went to the bar instead. He chuckled at the tiny ancient female behind the bar when she plopped a glass of blue milk in front of him. "Really, Maz? Milk again? Surely I'm old enough for something a little stronger? At least caf?"

Her eyes behind her goggles were huge and looked at him very seriously. "You shall never turn to drink. At least not in my bar. Bad things would befall you if you ever went down that path."

Kanan blinked in shock. _That sounded disturbingly like something Master Yoda would say, but without the backwards speak. Freaky._

And then her eyes went a little glassy as she seemed to look right through him. "Stay on the path you have chosen. Follow the light."

Kanan just gaped at Maz for a moment before remembering to close his mouth. _Holy kriff! Is Maz a Force sensitive? Shouldn't I have sensed it?_

Maz seemed to snap out of it, continuing as if the conversation had been normal the whole time. She smiled at him and nudged the cup of blue liquid closer to him. "Drink your milk. You're a growing boy. It's good for you."

"Yes, Mom." Kanan dutifully drank his milk as the ageless old woman smirked at him, but his mind was whirling. _What did Maz mean? Stay on the path I had chosen? Follow the light?_

The first thing that came to mind was Hera. _I did just resolve to go find her as soon as possible. Or did she mean continue to follow the Light side of the Force? Surely that one's a no brainer? Or could it be something more complicated than that?_

Kanan was torn from his musings by a scuffle and angry yelling from behind him. "Hey! No fighting in my bar!" yelled Maz. "You know the rules!"

He turned around to see what was happening. But it was already too late.

The blaster had already shot Kas directly in the chest.

_Noooooo!_

Kanan's first instinct was to throw the offending pirate across the room with the Force. He was even raising his arm to do it when Maz touched his wrist gently. He glanced at her for half a moment, surprised. She gave a tiny shake of her head. So he didn't.

As Kanan ran to Kas, he realized she was right. _I can't show what I am to this pack of outlaws. There's still a huge bounty on any Jedi found alive. I'd be hunted faster than I could say Jabba the Hutt._

Kanan knelt by Kas' fallen body. He was gasping for breath, his dark green skin quickly turning a sickly grey. Kanan gathered his head and shoulders up into his lap while Kas looked up at him through eyes that were rapidly losing their focus. "Kid. Thank you," he wheezed pitifully. "Take the Kasmiri. It's yours now. You earned it."

_If you say so. _The boy didn't exactly agree, but who was he to argue with a dying man?

Kanan felt a tear creep down his cheek. He smiled weakly at his friend. His saviour. "I was going to tell you that I finally thought of a last name for myself. It's Jarrus. Kanan Jarrus."

Janus Kasmir smiled one last time, green eyes warming momentarily again, gasped once more, then went limp in Kanan's arms. _Goodbye, my friend. Find peace in the Force._

Maz appeared beside him. She scooped up all the winnings from the table that Kas had won into a bag and handed it to Kanan. "This is yours." There was a sputter of protest from the others still at the table, but she silenced them with a glare. "Go, Kanan. I'll deal with this. Go meet your destiny. I'll see you again one day."

Kanan placed Kas' body down on the floor and rose to his feet. "Thank you, Maz." And just because it felt right, he then mouthed, 'May the Force be with you.'

Maz smiled knowingly and winked, then shooed him out of the bar. As he was leaving, he heard her yelling at the pirate scum who had killed Kas. "And you! You get out of my bar and never come back! And take your odiferous crew with you!"

Kanan made his way to the Kasmiri quickly, not wanting a confrontation with the pirate crew. He ran into the cockpit and started the engines, tossing the bag of loot onto the co-pilot chair.

Out of curiosity, he waited for the pirates to come out of the castle. They trudged out, looking like some of the worst kept scum in the galaxy he'd ever seen. They boarded a heavily modified-for-war freighter, a Corellian VCX-100 by the looks of it.

As Kanan watched the diamond shaped freighter fly away, he did a double take. _That ship looks awfully familiar. But why?_ Not being able to place where he'd seen it before, he shrugged and raised the ship from the forest floor.

Floating in space above the lush green planet of Takodana for a minute, he entered the coordinates for Ryloth into the nav computer. Heeding Maz's words, he went to find his fated soulmate.


	4. Reunited

**A/N: About half of this chapter is new! I hope you like it! :D**

* * *

**Reunited:**

_D185/18 BBY, Ryloth_

Hera was just leaving the hangar to get some lunch when she heard the rumble of a ship in the distance gain in volume. Ducking back through the door, she watched cautiously as it approached. With her father away on another mission against the Empire, it was just her and Chopper and she wasn't taking any chances of being spotted by an enemy.

But the ship was not an Imperial design or colour. In fact, it wasn't a silhouette that she'd ever seen before.

Curious, the girl stepped back outside, with her faithful astromech at her side all revved up into protective mode, to see who would be visiting her. _Or more realistically, Father._ His Free Ryloth movement had drawn a lot of attention, and new volunteers appeared almost weekly to fight the war. _This is probably just another eager person wanting to join the cause._

The unknown freighter model adorned in red and black paint landed in front of the hanger with a soft thud, which told her the pilot was proficient but not exceptionally skilled at flying. A minute after the engines powered down, the door opened and out walked a very handsome, tall and young Human male. He was dressed in a dark green shirt half covered by a deep brown, ankle length leather duster and lighter brown trousers over top of which sat two blaster holsters strapped to his muscular thighs. He had his longish auburn hair tied back in a stubby little tail, a few shorter strands escaping to wisp along his temples, and a neatly trimmed blob of matching whiskers decorating his chin.

He looked like a badass bounty hunter or something.

But she knew who it was immediately despite the change in his appearance since she'd last seen a holo of him a year and a half ago. The thrill that coursed through her confirmed it, her whole body tingling from head to toe at being in his presence again after so many years; tingling like it had never done for anyone else she'd met. And this time, she knew what it meant; her fated mate had come back from the dead to claim her. Hera's hand came up to cover her trembling lips in an automatic reaction of shock, her eyes huge as she drank in the sight of him.

The young man walked up to the frozen Twi'lek and smiled, his beautiful teal eyes cautious in regards to his welcome but twinkling nonetheless. He glanced down at Chopper and smiled at the droid's curt beep of acknowledgement and then turned that smile on her, but amping it up a few notches. "Hello, Hera. It's good to see you again."

Kanan couldn't believe he was actually standing in front of her for real. She looked exactly like he'd seen her in some of his visions; around fifteen or sixteen years old, covered in grease stained overalls, and looking more beautiful than any person had a right to. _Force, I hope my visions didn't lie to me. _

Hera finally gasped in some much needed air, not even realizing that she'd been holding her breath. "Caleb Dume! You're alive!" She launched herself at him and hugged his hard and lean torso tight for a few moments, feeling him startle and then raise his hands to just touch her back as he moved to return her embrace. But she already regretted her rash action, fearing that she'd just taken terrible liberties with the body of a Jedi. So she pulled back before he could close his arms around her, blushing furiously and staring at the ground. "Sorry. That was rude. We don't even know each other, really."

Already regretting that he'd frozen in surprise for a second too long and wishing that she'd press her supple body against his again, Kanan tilted her face back up with a finger under her delicate chin, the light green skin incredibly soft against his rougher hand. "Hey. It's alright. I'd really like to change that, and get to know everything about you." She gasped. _Poodoo. Was that too much too fast? _He met her wide emerald eyes as he smiled at her hopefully. "And it's Kanan now. Kanan Jarrus. Caleb Dume is dead and needs to stay that way."

Hera felt like she was drowning in his eyes. She felt like he could see to the very depths of her, and that he very much liked what he saw. Her heart was racing and she felt like she could barely breathe. The gentle touch of his hand on her face was sending her senses into a whirlwind of turmoil. _Does he feel it too? Is that why he came back? _"Okay," she said, trying her best to not sound as flustered as she felt. "Kanan. I like it."

"That's good," he murmured, unable to resist the urge to brush his fingers over her jawline. "I was hoping so, but I would have changed it again if you didn't."

"Trust me, she'll like pretty much anything you call yourself," Chopper beeped suddenly, laughing in his rough way.

Kanan looked down at the droid in surprise and Hera 'nudged' Chopper with a boot.

"Quiet," she hissed. The movement made Kanan's hand accidentally cup her whole cheek and they both froze for a second. Her eyes fluttered closed for just a moment as she leaned into his touch ever so slightly before she forced them open again. _Stars, I have no control around him! _"That… won't be necessary. Kanan is nice. Strong." He flushed with pleasure at her words, making her feel a little better that this connection between them wasn't one sided at all. She glanced over at the house, which inspired him to drop his hand. She missed it instantly. "I… I was just about to make myself some lunch. Would you… like to come inside and keep me company?"

Kanan grinned happily. "I would love that, Hera. Thank you." _Force, I love saying her name._

She smiled sweetly back, absolutely adoring how his deep voice seemed to caress the vowels of her name. "You're welcome. I'm glad you're here. I was devastated when I'd thought you'd died with all of the other Jedi." She brushed a hand over his arm tentatively before curling her fingers closed, as if to savour the fact that she'd touched him.

Kanan almost reached out to grasp that elegantly shaped hand and wrap his fingers around it, but just stopped himself in time. He'd already been way more forward than was considered polite with a near stranger. The problem was that she didn't feel like a stranger to him. His dreams of her over the years had made him feel like he knew her, at least a little. "I'm sorry. I should have tried to come back sooner. Or at least sent a message. But I never even thought that you would remember me, so I didn't."

"That's okay," she was quick to reassure, trying to alleviate some of the guilt he was displaying. "I never would have expected you to. We only met for a minute." She looked at him curiously. "Why DID you come back?"

Kanan flushed again, his sharp cheekbones turning bright pink and he looked at his scuffed black boots like they were fascinating. She was amazed to see that he wasn't quite as confident as he'd first appeared. "I… ummmm." He peeked upwards, teal eyes peering at her over his majestic nose that had a new bump on the bridge that hadn't been there before. _Did someone break it?_ "Would you believe the Force told me to come back for you?" he said hesitantly.

Hera touched his chin and tilted his head back up, surprised at the soft and tickly sensation of his whiskers on her fingers. "I would believe it." He inhaled softly at her touch, his eyes meeting hers with sudden wicked knowledge in them that had her heart racing again. She copied his earlier move and brushed her fingers along his smooth jawline and he leaned into her touch just as she had his. Their connection was definitely a two way street, and that thrilled her to no end to know that she had just as much power over him as he had over her. "Have you ever heard of Twi'lek Recognition?"

Kanan raised an eyebrow, still thrilling that she'd touched him back, his blood singing in his veins and the Force whispering to him how RIGHT this was. "No. It sounds important, though."

"It is. And it's rare," she almost whispered as she continued to caress his jaw, unable to help herself. "But it basically means that we know when we've met our soulmate."

"Oh," he breathed, raising his hand and covering her smaller one on his face. "And did you feel this Recognition with me when we first met?"

"I did," she whispered, eyes locked on his hopeful ones.

"Hera," he whispered back, awed to his core that the Force would be so kind to him. He turned his head a bit and kissed her palm reverently. She visibly shivered at the caress, her lekku curling up a bit. "I felt it too, in my way. I've been having dreams and visions about you and I romantically together for years."

Her breath caught. "You have?"

"I have." He nibbled more tiny kisses over her palm and up her pointer finger.

Overwhelmed at the new sensations rippling through her, Hera pulled her hand away from his dangerously soft and talented lips. But she twined her fingers with his to show that she wasn't offended, just couldn't take any more stimulation right now. "Okay. Wow. That's… good."

"I'm glad you think so," he husked. "I didn't know if I would ever tell you that," he admitted, squeezing her fingers gently. "I was worried it would freak you out."

Hera giggled and turned, tugging on his hand to lead him towards the house. "No, not in the way you mean anyway. It just gives more credit to the fantasy dreams I've had of you since I was twelve. I wouldn't call any of them visions, though. They were all based on the latest holo I'd seen of you from the news."

Kanan blinked at her back as he lingered half a step behind but still clinging to her hand. _Whoa. That's hot. Like, really hot. _He had no idea how to respond to that without sounding like an absolute perv, so he kept his mouth shut and tried not to drool. Even in grease stained coveralls, she was gorgeous. Tall and curvy, with lekku and hips swaying enticingly as she walked. Although, he doubted she did it on purpose.

He pulled on some of his training to calm his pounding heart and find his tranquil center again. He didn't want to scare her off by acting like a slavering mooka, after all.

Hera tugged on his hand until he was walking beside her properly, which was probably for the best. She smiled up at him. "So, tell me what you've been doing all this time?"

"Sure," he smiled back.

* * *

As the sun was setting over the mountains, Cham rode his blurrg up the hill towards his home, exhausted from another long week of fighting the Empire.

Spotting the unfamiliar freighter parked in front of his house, Cham's heart picked up pace and all sense of tiredness evaporated as he went into worried parent mode. _Hera!_

Giving his blurrg an extra nudge, he raced up the rest of the hill. Pulling his blurrg to a stop, he leapt off and ran into the house yelling, "Hera?" All he heard in reply was terrifying silence. Worry increasing, he went back outside and across the yard to the hangar, giving himself a mental slap for not going there first, since Hera spent almost all her time in there ever since he'd confined her to the house.

As Cham neared the hangar, he stopped in shock when he heard Hera laugh. It had been years since she'd laughed, as far as he knew. There just hadn't been anything for her to be joyful about lately. Approaching quietly, he listened carefully, pointed ears straining to hear every sound.

"No way! He didn't!" Hera said.

"Yes, he did," an unfamiliar male voice replied.

"So what happened next?" said Hera, accompanied by the clanging of metal against metal.

"So there I was, surrounded by crates of illegal fruit, my new boss slinking away to save himself, or so I thought, with Jabba the Hutt and all his henchmen looking at me suspiciously. Have you ever met a Hutt? No? Be happy. They are the ugliest, slimiest, smelliest beings I've ever had the misfortune to meet. And this Jabba guy was mean! He was all, 'What have we here? A little snack for my rancor perhaps? Hahahaha,'" the male said in a decent impression of the deeper voice of a Hutt.

"Wow. Can you hand me that please, Kanan? Thanks."

Cham's brows furrowed as he tried to think of a Kanan, but couldn't come up with one. The person talking to Hera was definitely a stranger. Cham didn't know what to do. Hera sounded happy. Really happy. And not just the fake happy she'd been portraying when they had guests over ever since the Empire had taken over the Galaxy and he'd confined her to their property.

But he was dying of curiosity for two reasons now. He needed to see this person who'd brought Hera out of her shell, but on the other hand, he really wanted to hear the end of the story, too.

The interesting tale being told decided it for him.

"I was wracking my brain frantically, trying to come up with some way out of this mess that didn't include using any Jedi skills…"

_Jedi?!_

"…when out of nowhere a blaster is thrown at me and someone is shooting at Jabba and his goons. I grabbed the blaster out of the air and jumped behind a crate, shooting at the enforcers. They divided their attention between me and Kas."

_Wait. Don't I know a Kas? One that flies a red and black freighter? Isn't he that Kalleran smuggler?_

The man talking to his daughter kept on with his story. "One of the sleemos tossed a grenade at me and it hit the crate I was hiding behind. I leapt away, but the crate exploded along with all the yogans inside, covering me in fruit bits. I smelled like yogans for days."

There was a peel of laughter from Hera and a self conscious chuckle from the male, silently echoed by Cham. _That would have sucked to be him._

"I dove for cover again, still exchanging fire with the bad guys. Kas yelled at me, saying, 'Run for it, Kid! I'll cover you!' So I did. Dashing all the way back to the ship, past a ton of people gawking at the teenager covered in purple yogan pulp."

_Teenager. That's good. Don't know if I want to see my baby all cuddly with some male twice her age. _

"I started the engines and was about to fly to where Kas was, when he ran onto the ship yelling, 'Go! Go!' So I gunned it for the atmosphere with another ship in hot pursuit. It was a race to see if I could jump to hyperspace before we were shot down. I won," the apparently teenage Jedi said with a smug tone. Cham figured it was probably well deserved.

"Needless to say, we never went back to Tatooine again before he died, since he was going to give them a year or so to forget us."

_Oh. The old smuggler bought it. That's sad. I remember that I liked him. _

"Kas was sitting in the co-pilot chair, trying to catch his breath when he actually took a moment to really look at me. His eyes almost popped out of his head and he laughed at me for at least an hour. Even after I went and showered clean, he still cracked up at random for the next week. It turns out that yogans will stain you purple for quite a while and I had to throw out my clothes."

Hera giggled. "I wish I'd seen that."

_So do I, whoever you are._

"I'm glad you didn't," said the male.

"I would have recorded it," said Chopper, making Hera laugh again at the male's groan.

"Now I'm really happy you weren't there. I never need to see myself purple again."

Cham decided he'd heard enough. He entered the hangar, expecting his presence to be a surprise, but that's not how it went.

Kanan waved at the larger man from his casual lean on the green Y-wing fighter Hera was tinkering with, already facing the doorway he knew the older male was listening from, his Force senses having felt the new presence as soon as he'd ridden up to the property. "Hey, General Syndulla. It's great to see you again."

Cham's eyes widened fractionally in surprise at the relaxed demeanour of the boy, who looked somewhere in his late teens. His daughter slid out from under the fighter, wrench in hand, said, "Hello, Father," coolly, and disappeared back under the fighter. _Well, it could be worse. At least it isn't the silent treatment she'd given me for weeks last year, but she still isn't happy with me, despite this boy lifting her spirits._

Cham studied said boy intently, trying to figure out where he might have met him before and came up annoyingly blank.

Kanan felt the man's confusion and decided to put him out of his misery. Walking up to Cham, who was only a few centimetres taller than him now, Kanan bowed exactly the same as he had years ago, then looked at Cham with a smile. "My name is Kanan Jarrus, but you met me once when I was still Caleb Dume. My Master and I brought you supplies."

_Oh! I remember him! Of course he grew up! _Cham broke out in a wide grin and clapped the boy on the back in greeting. "The young Padawan! Look how you've grown! And you're still alive. Hera and I assumed that you had been killed with the rest of the Jedi."

Kanan smiled tightly. "Most of them didn't make it. Including my Master. She sacrificed herself to save me." His bright eyes faded to a faraway, longing look, which made Cham regret his words. Fortunately, the renamed Kanan seemed to shake himself out of it. "But those days are over. I'm not a Jedi anymore. Not really. I can't afford to be."

"No, I imagine you can't," Cham said sympathetically, taking in the gunslinger garb with approval.

Kanan nodded once in agreement. "But I'm still good in a fight, good with a blaster, and a decent pilot. Hera tells me you have a 'small' Imperial problem here on Ryloth. I'd be more than happy to join your resistance fighters."

_And make eyes at my daughter, I bet. Which might not be a bad thing, actually. _Cham wrapped an arm around the boy's shoulders and grinned down at him. "I'd be glad to have you join us, Kanan. And worry not. I won't tell anyone what or who you were." He herded the boy towards the door. "Come on, son. Let's go find some supper since I'm starving and I'll tell you some stories about old Kas and how he helped us out during the last war. You too, Hera. The fighter will still be there tomorrow. Come get cleaned up and try looking like a female for once. Oh, and take care of my blurrg, would you?"

Chopper beeped a curse at Cham, which he ignored, while Hera slid out from under the fighter and glared at her father's back. Kanan looked over his shoulder at her helplessly as he was bodily escorted away by the bigger male. Hera rolled her eyes at him and he made a face back, making her smile despite her ire at her father. _Look like a female? Seriously? _

_He must really like Kanan._

Hera watched her father lead the ex Jedi away, and sighed dreamily as she put away her tools. "Chopper, I might be silly, but somehow, he's even cuter than before, even with that weird bit of hair on his chin."

Chopper beeped a suggestion, making Hera gasp and smack him with a wrench. "No, you will not cut the hair off his face while he's sleeping! He obviously grew it there for a reason. Besides, you'd probably manage to scar him for life if he didn't crush you like a bug first. And I happen to like his features the way they are, thank you very much."

Chopper sulked as he followed Hera out to where the blurrg was patiently standing in the upper driveway. "It was just a suggestion," he beeped out in sullen Binary. But then a few seconds later, he proved why she kept him around. "Do you want me to record a new image of the organic for you to moon over at night?"

"No! Yes. Maybe. Arrrgggh!" Hera glared down at her droid that she loved despite his annoying habits as she led the blurrg to the stables. "For a droid, you are frighteningly observant."

"Thank you," beeped Chopper proudly.

"That wasn't really meant to be a compliment, Chop."


	5. Courting

**Courting:**

_D214/18 BBY_

On the ride back from a mission a few weeks later, Kanan finally worked up the courage to ask Cham a question that had been keeping him practically sleepless for days because Hera had told him it was tradition.

He'd spent every second of his free time getting to know her, and finding her to be just as enchanting as he hoped she'd be. She was the most beguiling combination of sweet, gentle, and caring, combined with strong, feisty, and determined. He never knew which side of her personality he'd see from one moment to the next and he loved that about her.

Whenever he wasn't off fighting the Empire with her father, he was with Hera, helping her fix the ships or clean the house or tend the garden or take care of the blurrgs. (The Syndullas used to have servants when Hera was little, but after the first war, they couldn't afford to pay them anymore, so now Hera and Cham did all the work required to maintain their household.) They'd spent countless hours talking and he knew he could happily spend the rest of his life just listening to her beautiful voice.

Now all he needed to do was ask her father for permission to make that a reality.

Clearing his throat nervously, Kanan jumped off the figurative cliff. "General, sir, I was wondering if I could have your permission to court your daughter?"

Cham glanced at the boy riding beside him and quickly turned his gaze back to where they were going, using every ounce of his self-control to keep a straight face. Kanan's pale Human skin had turned bright red and he was fidgeting with his reins like they were on fire, making his blurrg look back at him with a confused expression. _I should make him suffer a little more, but honestly, I think he might faint or something if I do._

So Cham put the young man who'd won his daughter's heart and loyalty out of his misery. "Kanan, son, you have my blessing. Honestly, you're the first person Hera's even shown any interest in whatsoever. All the other young Twi'leks I've brought home to meet her in the past made absolutely no difference to her demeanour at all. But with you, she actually smiles again. Normally I wouldn't encourage a Human to get anywhere near my daughter, but you are different than most. Aside from being a Jedi, you have excellent manners and are an outstanding fighter. You've treated both myself and my daughter with the utmost in respect, and I appreciate that. So, yes. Feel free to TRY and court Hera."

Kanan's chest swelled with pride and his heart thumped joyfully to hear that. "Thank you, sir, but I don't think she's going to object much. She told me that I'm her soulmate the first day I came back."

"What?!" Cham all but shouted, his orange eyes wide with shock.

Kanan nodded, grinning at disconcerting the older man for the first time ever. "Yep. Said something about Recognition."

"Kriff," Cham muttered, relaxing enough to sway with his blurrg's movement again instead of sitting like a stiff board. "No wonder she's never been interested in anyone else. She would have known years ago when she met you the first time. I wish she'd told me." He shot a look at Kanan. "I would have done my best to talk you into leaving the Order if I'd known."

Kanan raised a brow. "Really?"

"For her, yes." Cham patted his blurrg absently, gazing off in the distance, sorrow pouring off of him and into the Force. "She's already lost so much to the war - her mother, my own soulmate, her little brother, many of her friends, her privileged lifestyle – that I would have done anything to GIVE her something that was hers alone. A soulmate… you… that would have made her so much happier these last four years. So much happier."

Kanan reached over and squeezed the Twi'lek's shoulder in sympathy. Hera wasn't the only one who'd lost nearly everything. "I also wish I had known. I would have left the Jedi Order in a heartbeat for her. I think the Force was even encouraging me to do so."

"How so?"

Kanan flushed lightly again. "Visions. Dreams."

Cham chuckled knowingly, recognizing that look of discomfort that indicated some of those dreams might have been a little more spicy than a Temple raised boy would know what to do with. "Ah. I see."

_I hope you don't, _Kanan thought, squirming in his saddle. Desperately needing to change the subject, Kanan bravely asked, "So, um, since I'm officially courting her now and all, do you think, perhaps, that I could take her for a picnic? I promise she'll be safe with me, both from the Imperials and myself," he added in a rush at the end, face heating yet again.

Cham grinned and at the same time, sighed in the most exaggerated way possible. "I suppoooooose that would be acceptable," he said with teasing reluctance. "We are far enough away from the city that we rarely see Imperial ships out here. And I will trust in you to protect her if something does happen." (The boy had already proven himself to be a more than capable warrior, even without the use of his lightsabre, being a nearly sniper level shot with his dual blasters, and quite skilled in hand to hand skirmishes.)

Kanan grinned widely at his successful mission to 'Acquire the Father's Blessing'. "I promise to protect her with my life, sir. For as long as I live," he added, just because. Kanan patted his blurrg happily and nudged it to a slightly faster pace, eager to see Hera again and tell her the good news.

_I'm holding you to that, C_ham thought as he nudged his own blurrg into keeping up with the exuberant Jedi boy.

* * *

The next morning, as soon as he finished inhaling his breakfast of fruit and scrambled eggs, and after Cham had left for a holo strategy meeting with other important people from Ryloth, Kanan asked the literal girl of his dreams the question he'd rehearsed pretty much all night long. "Hera?"

She looked up at him from her absorption in her bowl of mixed fruit, heavy on the meilooruns. "Hmmm?"

Kanan took a deep breath and spit it all out in a jumbled, mumbled mess. "Wouldyoupicnicgoonwithmeplease?"

Hera blinked at him in confusion. "What?"

Kanan groaned and let his head fall down to the table in embarrassment. _That did not go the way I planned. At all._

Hera watched Kanan with amusement, a smile playing on her lips. _He's so cute when he's flustered._ She reached over and pushed his head off the table, looking into his woebegone eyes. "Kanan, whatever it is, yes, I'd be happy to. Now that you have my answer, would you like to try again?"

He sat up tall and composed himself, sucking in a few calming breaths. _Okay, I can't possibly do this any worse than what I've already done, so I might as well get it right this time._ He held his hand out and rejoiced when she took it with an expectant look. "Hera. I was hoping that you would grant me the great honour of gracing me with your presence on a picnic this afternoon."

She beamed at Kanan, emerald eyes shining into his teal ones. "I would love to, Kanan. That sounds delightful." But then she looked sadly down at the table and took her hand back. It felt like she took his heart with it. "But I'm not allowed to leave the estate. Father is still convinced I'll be captured and sold as a slave."

He gently grasped her hand again and laced their fingers together, making her look at him in surprise. He gave her a mischievous smile filled with triumph. "Ah, but I've already asked your father for permission to take you out. We're free to go anytime."

Hera stared at him in disbelief. "You didn't!" When he nodded and smiled wider, the extremely house-sick girl went a little nuts. "You did! Oh, I could kiss you senseless right now. Do you know how long I've been stuck in this house?"

"No?" He shook his head because she'd never actually mentioned a timeframe. And then his eyes went wide as he registered what else she'd said. _Kiss my senseless? Oh Force, please. _Despite all of their soft touches and the occasional hug, kissing her was something he'd yet to actually do, so afraid of rushing her beyond what she was ready for; she was two years younger than him after all.

"More than half a year!" Hera all but wailed. "And I want out! I used to go on missions and fly the fighters, but I've been grounded FOREVER! You have no idea how close I've come to losing it and walking out of this house and never coming back. I just... I just need to be free again." Hera stopped, her voice trailing off, realizing she'd just exploded in poor Kanan's face. She squeezed the fingers she was still holding and leaned over and kissed his cheek softly, making him blush bright red. "I'm sorry, love. You didn't need to hear all that."

Kanan raised her hand to his lips and gently kissed her knuckles, still amused by the grease permanently stuck under her fingernails. Now it was her turn to blush. "Yes, Hera, I did. I want to know everything about you. Even how you look when you're ranting. Which is enchanting by the way. Feel free to rant at me any time." He paused as an idea struck him based on her words. "I was going to suggest we ride blurrgs to get to our picnic spot, but now I have a better idea."

"What?"

He smiled widely, just knowing that this was going to go well. "Would you like to fly my ship there, with maybe a detour or two on the way?"

Hera's heart almost burst with the excitement that tore through her. "YES!" She jumped out of her chair and launched herself at Kanan, almost making him fall out of his before he caught her and held her safely in his lap as she rained kisses all over his precious face. _Stars, this boy just keeps on making my life better and better. _

Kanan could barely contain his shock at this unexpected turn of events, but he wasn't complaining. He wrapped his arms around her back, careful not to squish her trembling lekku, and just enjoyed the feel of her shapely body against his. _This is officially the best moment of my life_. A minute later he had to take that back as the moments just got better and better.

Hera froze when she realized what she was doing.

Somehow, she'd turned one of her daydreams into reality, and it felt amazing. Kanan's strong arms were around her and she was SITTING on him. Her hands were buried in his hair, she'd even torn out the leather tie holding it back, the silky auburn strands tumbling around her fingers and his face, causing new sensations she'd never felt before. She couldn't believe how soft his hair was. She LOVED it. Wanted to run her fingers through it forever. And found herself doing just that as she decided what to do about where she'd ended up.

Hera stared into his curious and warm teal eyes, feeling no expectations from him, just acceptance of wherever she wanted to take it from here. _What I SHOULD do is get up and go back to my own chair. _Even as she thought it, she felt his arms loosen, and that decided it for her. _But that's not what I WANT to do. He really is perfect. He'll never ask or order me to go beyond what I want. _

Hera changed the direction of where she was leaning. She tilted forward again and kissed his mouth gently. Feeling his arms tighten, Hera did it again, this time leaving her lips on his longer.

The teenagers parted with an inhale in surprise at the electric sensations that had rushed through them.

Hera tightened her fingers in his hair and planted her lips back on his as he happily returned the kiss with unpracticed enthusiasm, moving his mouth over hers in a way that just felt right to both of them.

Kanan's eyes were closed in bliss as the most beautiful girl in the galaxy kissed him like her life depended on it, making the sweetest little humming sounds in her throat. He popped them open in surprise for a moment before shuttering again when he felt her lekku slither around his arms and hold him tight, having had no idea that they were that flexible or controllable, but he went with it; it was just one more sensation to savour, one more way that she had claimed him. His Master and the Jedi Council were probably rolling over in their graves right now, but he didn't care. The Force had shown him visions of this girl and their life together; what he was doing couldn't possibly be wrong.

When Hera pulled back again, blushing furiously, and unwrapped her lekku from his arms, Kanan reluctantly but respectfully let her go. He rested one clenched hand on his knee and brought the other around to the front so he could caress her heated cheek with his thumb. "Wow, darling," he managed to husk out. "That's all I can say."

Hera blushed to an even darker shade of green, but smiled widely. Cupping his cheek in return, she pressed one more quick kiss to his lips. "You keep making me happy, I'll keep kissing you. Okay?"

Kanan grinned in return. "I'll do my best. From now until the end of time. I love you, Hera."

Hera gasped slightly because she hadn't expected him to say those words anytime soon. But they felt real, and oh so right. With a sigh of utter contentment she snuggled down into his lap so she could rest her cheek on his firm chest and wrap her arms around his narrow waist. "I love you too, Kanan."

He smiled like an idiot at the white cap on her head and kissed the top of a lek lovingly where it emerged from the soft material. Hera almost literally purred her approval of the touch like a tooka, and he kept that in mind for the future. Putting one hand behind her back again to hold her steady, he stretched over, reaching for her bowl of fruit and pulling it closer. Stabbing a yellow piece with the fork, he held it out for her. "You should finish your breakfast, darling."

Cheeks darkening again, Hera took the piece of fruit offered with a delicate snap of her teeth. Then, with a shake of her head, she grabbed the bowl herself and took the fork from him. "I know that's supposed to be romantic and all, love, but I just don't think I can do it. I'm perfectly capable of feeding myself." She proceeded to demonstrate, quickly shoveling in another bite of meiloorun.

Kanan laughed and just watched her eat, finding it fascinating and perfectly happy with his life exactly as it was in that moment. _She may be fiercely independent, but she hasn't left my lap yet, has she?_ He squeezed her to his chest for a half a moment in gratitude, making her look up at him and smile.

With a smirk, she held a piece of purple yogan up for him to take. _Cheeky minx._ Kanan chuckled, and obligingly ate it even though he wasn't particularly fond of the citrusy fruit anymore.

* * *

When Cham walked back into the dining room to tell the teenagers that his meeting had been moved to tomorrow, he got the shock of his life, making him completely forget what he was going to say.

With a hidden grin of satisfaction, he took in the sight of his originally standoffish daughter sitting in the lap of the Human boy and feeding him a piece of fruit. _Stars, they look so cute and happy together. I wish my mate was still here to see this. _

Changing his expression to stern father mode, he cleared his throat loudly, making them jump.

Hera scrambled off of Kanan's lap and back into her own chair, lekku twitching in embarrassment. "Father!"

"Sir, I can explain," Kanan said at the same time, practically choking on the fruit he'd been in the process of swallowing.

Cham grunted and crossed his arms in front of his chest and put on his best disapproving glare. "I gave you permission to take her on a picnic, not take liberties with her person."

"It was me, Father! I jumped on him. He had nothing to do with it," Hera said quickly, not wanting Kanan to get in trouble or even kicked out of their home.

"Really? And his holding you there for how long was all your idea as well?" Cham said with a raised brow.

"Umm," said Kanan. "You see, sir, it went like this. I was just..."

Hera cut him off with a hiss. "Quiet, Kanan. This is my fault."

Cham couldn't keep up the act anymore. They were just so funny, looking like scared little children. He burst into laughter, which took forever to wind down, the teenagers staring at him in growing annoyance the whole time. With a final chuckle, Cham wiped the tears from his eyes. "That was priceless. Really though, Kanan, what did you say to get her to do that? As of yesterday, I honestly thought my daughter would die an old maid."

Hera gasped in outrage.

Kanan was just happy Cham hadn't walked in a couple of minutes sooner; what he saw was bad enough. "All I did was ask her to go on a picnic with me and offer her the chance to fly my ship on the way there. She really, really liked the idea?"

Cham chuckled again. "I understand now. You figured out the way into her heart was through flying. Good job, son." Cham turned back around, to leave them to their privacy. As he walked he shook his head in bemusement. "Too bad none of the Twi'leks I brought home for her to meet thought of that," he mumbled to himself.

"I heard that!" Hera called to his retreating back. "You know why I didn't want them now. And I'm very happy with the soulmate the stars have gifted me with. I will never want another."

Cham stopped and whirled back around, eyes wide in astonishment. "Are you sure?"

Hera stood and faced her father with crossed arms and a determined look on her face that he knew meant she was never changing her mind. Her mother had worn that exact same look more times than he cared to remember. _She definitely has her mother's spirit._ "I'm sure. Live with it," she stated in a 'so there' tone.

Kanan looked back and forth between them, sensing something very important had just happened, but he had no clue what.

Cham looked at the confused ex Jedi and explained. "Congratulations, son. You just got engaged. You can officially be married on her eighteenth birthday."

Kanan's jaw dropped as he gawked at the Twi'leks, blinking in shock. As the words sank in, his face transformed into a smile so bright, it filled the room.

He jumped up from his chair and grabbed Hera around the waist and whirled her around in circles, making her laugh as she wrapped her arms around his neck to hang on for dear life. "You just made me the happiest man in the galaxy, darling," he said joyfully before plastering his mouth to hers.

Cham shook his head, only slightly dismayed at the turn of events as he left the teenagers alone for real this time. The Jedi wasn't what he'd wanted for a son-in-law even a month ago, but if it had to be a Human, at least it was the best possible kind of Human; a male who was a skilled fighter and very obviously loved and worshipped his daughter.

A father really couldn't ask for more.


	6. Pirates

**Pirates:**

_D52/17 BBY_

Hera and Kanan held hands and all but dragged their feet as they walked behind her father to the hangar, delaying the inevitable as long as possible. Their eyes spent most of their time gazing into the others and not really looking at where they were walking, but they reached the doorway safely regardless thanks to familiarity of their path.

Cham had already climbed into his fighter and started it by the time the teenagers came to a stop beside the restored Y-Wing Kanan was taking. Pulling Hera by the hand into his space, the enamoured young male lowered his head to kiss her goodbye, his free hand coming up to cup her face lovingly. The equally besotted girl rested her free hand on his chest and eagerly kissed him back, grateful the fighter blocked her father's view of what they were doing.

When both were thoroughly breathless, Hera pulled back and smiled up at her handsome fiancé. "Be careful, love."

Kanan grinned down at her, squeezing their interlocked fingers and caressing her cheek with his other hand, not worried about the coming mission at all thanks to his previous life as a Jedi commander in the clone wars. "I'll be fine, darling," he reassured. "I'm always careful when I go out on missions. You know I'm not going to do anything to jeopardize my life with you; we've hardly even begun to live the life I see in our future."

Hera moued briefly as she tucked a loose strand of his long silky hair behind his cute, rounded Human ear. "I'm glad to hear that, but I'll still worry."

Kanan's hand slid down to wrap around her shoulders and hug her into his chest as he kissed the top of her head. "You don't need to worry, darling." He pulled back and gave her a teasing smile as he flicked his gaze towards his freighter pointedly. "It's me who should be worried, I think." His teal eyes twinkled as he added in a conspiratorial whisper, "Try not to get in too much trouble while I'm gone, okay?"

Hera followed his gaze to the Kasmiri and then looked at him with a raised eyebrow as she whispered back, "Me? Get in trouble? Never."

They both laughed softly at that, since Hera had a way of finding it without trying; like the time she'd stumbled across a squadron of stormtroopers trying to herd a wild blurrg into a waiting ship for exportation - blurrgs were valuable riding animals and sold well all across the galaxy. Hera had mowed down the troopers with the Kasmiri, flying dangerously low, so that the blurrg could escape. She'd had to repaint the freighter as soon as she got back to avoid detection by the pissed off Imperials. It was now a much more appealing grey with dark green highlights, which Hera had explained to her father was because the red and black colour scheme stood out too much and was much too memorable if anyone did happen to see it.

And she didn't particularly like it.

Kanan hadn't either, to be honest.

Still smiling, he leaned down to kiss her one more time, but was interrupted by Cham's voice yelling at them. "Enough of that already! I might not be able to see you two, but I know what you're doing! Let's go!"

She winced and blushed. "I guess you better go before Father comes over here."

"Yeah," he sighed and kissed her frowning mouth quickly one more time anyway and then climbed the ladder up into the fighter, pulling her hand with him until he absolutely had to let it go with a final squeeze. "We'll be back in a few days," he called down to Hera, before starting the fighter and pulling on his helmet.

She waved at him and watched the two fighters leave the hangar longingly, wishing that she was going with them. "Come back in one piece," she whispered, unheard over the sound of the powerful engines.

They were off to check out rumours about more missing girls and stolen spices on the other side of the continent, and were taking the fighters just in case things got interesting. The Kasmiri would have made the trip a lot more comfortable, but it wasn't equipped to fight, having just the basics in shielding and no guns. It was just a freighter after all. But that was all right, because she got to play with it while her father was away. Kanan understood her need to fly, and had immediately told her to take the Kasmiri out for a spin anytime she wanted and could get away with. It wasn't the same as a nimble starfighter by a lightyear, but it was better than being stuck on the ground.

Chopper bumped into her leg and beeped at her, making Hera abandon her watch of where the Y-Wings had disappeared in the clouds. She reached down and patted his dome absently. "Yes, Chopper, we're going for a ride in Kanan's ship. And stop calling him names. He's staying in our lives whether you like it not. No matter how many pranks you pull on him or zap him when he's not looking, you're not going to scare him off."

Chopper laughed evilly. "But it's fun. And you're MY organic, not the meatbag's."

Hera sighed and rolled her eyes, walking towards the freighter. No matter how many times she reprogrammed Chopper, he always came right back to this.

Droids weren't supposed to get jealous, but Chopper was obviously special, and most of the time, not in a good way. But he was HER droid. He'd kept her company and kept her sane when she was all alone for too many days to count.

Ever since her mother and little brother, Jacen, had died, her father had thrown himself into the war against whoever was trying to take over their planet at any given time. Hera knew he still loved her, but he just wasn't the same happy, attentive father he used to be when she was little. At least when she got to fight in the war with him, they had spent most of their time together and had something in common. Now she just felt like a possession left at home, like a treasured piece of art. Something to look at and claim ownership of, but not something you actually packed and took with you when left the house.

_Thank the stars for Kanan, who makes me feel like I matter again. _

* * *

Two hours later, Hera felt like she'd finally gotten enough of a flying fix to keep her happy for a few days. She'd twirled the freighter through the clouds joyfully, performing aerobatics the freighter was never really designed for, but she got everything she could out of the ship and made it better than the designers could ever have imagined it could be. Especially since she'd been tweaking with it for the last few months to help its performance capabilities.

The first time she flew for Kanan, the day of their first official date, she'd started out flying normally enough, just getting a feel for the ship, but then she'd grinned at him as his only warning and then flew up into the clouds and proceeded to scare him nearly to death. He'd gaped at her and clutched his chair for dear life as she flung the ship into a series of rolls and dives, laughing exultantly the whole time. After a minute, he'd relaxed, realizing she knew what she was doing, and started to grin before breaking into laughter as well. "Your father is an idiot for keeping you on the ground," he'd said after she finally returned to normal flight and headed for a perfect place by a lake for a picnic.

Hera had beamed at him, happy that he understood. The instant she landed the ship, she'd jumped out of her chair and attacked him for the second time that day, kissing him like a woman possessed because she was so happy. And she had to let it out somewhere, so her new fiancé had benefitted. Kanan hadn't complained in the least. It was a good half hour of passionate and exploratory kisses before they actually left the ship and had that picnic, followed by a blissfully long swim in the lake she hadn't been able to visit for much too long.

That had been the best day of her life so far.

Hera dropped back down below the clouds and headed for home, a smile of contentment on her face. As she was flying, a shuttle passed her going across her path. She absently kept an eye on it in the monitor, just out of curiosity, and was surprised when it did an abrupt about-face and started shooting at her.

_Whoa! Since when did that class of shuttle get guns? And secondly, what did I do to deserve this?_

It wasn't an Imperial shuttle, but a personal shuttle, Corellian made by the looks of it.

Hera flew back up into the clouds for cover and flew erratically to avoid the shots. With no way to shoot back, and not wanting to lead it to her home, she got inventive.

Flying up even higher, she somersaulted the Kasmiri over the shuttle and chased it instead. "Chopper, give me as much power to the shields as you can!" Her faithful, war-experienced astromech droid beeped in acknowledgement and plugged into the wall. Hera put on a burst of speed, pursuing the shuttle. When she was beside it, she smirked to herself and rolled the much larger freighter right over the shuttle, smacking it out of the sky like it was a pesky bug.

_Gotcha, you sleemo!_

The triumphant Twi'lek girl followed the shuttle as it stuttered and jolted its way down to the ground, landing with a long skidding crash that left a deep furrow in the ground. She landed the Kasmiri beside the smoking shuttle and then palmed her blaster and ran out of the freighter, pointing it at the door of the shuttle, adrenaline thrumming through her veins.

It opened a moment later, and a coughing, staggering, filthy looking Human male fell out of the ship, staring up at her in surprise when she pointed the blaster at his head. She snatched his blaster from its holster and pointing that one at him too. "Why did you try and shoot me down?" She demanded of the man who had his dirty blond hair twisted into long dreadlocks and was wearing clothes that looked like they hadn't been washed in weeks. The stench coming off of him supported her assumption.

"I was hoping you were someone else," he wheezed between coughing fits.

"Who?" Hera demanded. When he didn't look like he was going to answer, Hera pointed a blaster at his groin instead.

The man's grey eyes widened in horror and he began speaking rapidly. "A Human teenager. Goes by the name Kanan Jarrus. Flies a very rare ship just like yours but with different paint. He's got something that belongs to my Captain, and he wants it back. I thought I'd gotten lucky when I passed you and found him hiding out here."

"And what were you doing here in the first place?" she asked suspiciously.

He leered up at her, giving her a blatant up and down look before winking lasciviously. "We're just here to acquire a few of your native products, such as yourself."

Hera narrowed her eyes at him in disgust and gave him a not so gentle kick in the side, making him curl up and wheeze some more. "One more look like that, and I take off what you value most," she warned in a growl, returning him to his back with a less than gentle nudge of her boot.

The man cupped his groin protectively and stared at her with wide eyes. "Sorry, lady. You're insane, you know that? I've never seen flying like that before either."

Hera grinned maliciously at the squirming human. "Good. You remember that. Us Twi'leks aren't just going to sit here and let you blurrg droppings steal our people and our hard earned products. Oh, and tell your Captain whenever you actually see him again that you accidentally tried to shoot the wrong ship out of the sky. I don't know who you're looking for, but this is my ship and it's belonged to my family for years," she unabashedly lied. "And one more thing. Thank you for the shuttle. We could really use that."

The man looked up at her in surprise, his head shaking frantically back and forth as Hera flicked her blaster to stun and shot the filthy scumbag. Twice. Just because.

Hera left the Human in the dirt and walked into the shuttle, waving her hand at the smoke. She searched through the compartments on the walls until she found a fire extinguisher and sprayed the offending instrument panel. As soon as the smoke inside the ship cleared, she disabled its locator beacon, not wanting the rest of the sleemo's crew to show up, looking for him.

Hera glanced around at her new toy and grinned in glee. _This is so much better than a freighter! And it has guns!_ _With a little bit of tinkering, I'll have it flying again in no time._

The very pleased with herself Twi'lek walked out of the shuttle and closed the door. Giving the unconscious human another kick just for good measure on the way by, Hera walked back into the Kasmiri. Chopper was waiting for her at the door. "I recorded all of that. Just in case you want to watch yourself beat up a meatbag again," he beeped cheerfully.

Hera grinned and patted him on his dome. "You know me so well, Chop. And I'm sure Kanan would love to see it too. Wish I could show Father, but he'd have a fit if he knew I'd left the house, so that's a no go."

Hera picked up the broken shuttle with the magnetic lock on the bottom of the freighter and carted it towards home, hiding it in a large rock cluster close enough to her house that she could ride there on a blurrg in about half an hour, if the Kasmiri wasn't available to take.

Flying the rest of the way home in only a few minutes, Hera was floating in a cloud of satisfaction with her day. She'd outflown a superior ship, bested a Human pirate, and acquired a new ship that was just hers. All on her own. She wished she could say her father would be proud of her, but he'd just have a freak out.

Kanan, on the other hand, would. She just knew it.

* * *

When the pirate woke up hours later in the dark, he shivered and sat up with a groan and pressed a hand to his screaming side. _That Twi'lek bitch cracked a rib! _

_Or worse, _he thought with a grimace as he pulled his commlink from his belt. "Hey, Captain," he said, when his call was answered.

"How's the scouting trip going, Dreads?"

"Umm, it's not." And then he proceeded to lie his ass off, unwilling to admit that a native girl had bested him. "This massive ship full of giant male Twi'leks shot me out of the sky and left me for dead in the middle of nowhere. And they stole our shuttle. Can you come and get me?" Dreads whined.

The Captain cursed for a while, then started to laugh. "Guess what, Dreads. I can't track where you are. And you don't know where you are. How am I supposed to get you? Sorry, but you're on your own. Good luck." With a final laugh, the commlink went silent.

Dreads cursed and threw the commlink as hard as he could, then instantly regretted it as his ribs screamed at him for the motion. He carefully lay back down and stared up at the stars for a while, waiting for the pain in his side to settle down to bearable.

Eventually, he realized he would die out here if he didn't move. Forcing himself to his feet, he clutched his side and turned around in a circle, trying to figure out which direction he'd come from. Giving up, he picked a direction at random and started trudging.

Years later, someone would find his bones at the bottom of a cliff. Many of them were broken, including two ribs on his right side.

* * *

Kanan and Cham spent two days following horror stories from town to town. Stories about a group of filthy Humans who were scouring the towns for the prettiest girls and stealing them in the dead of night from their homes and killing everyone else that lived there. Most of the dead females showed obvious signs of bruising and of being taken savagely. The pirates were also raiding shops for the most expensive of the native spices grown on Ryloth. Products that didn't take up a lot of space, but paid well on other worlds.

The more or less justice-minded males were now flying their fighters in the middle of the night, in a search pattern near the latest town attacked, looking for the roughly diamond shaped ship that the pirates were said to be flying. They were hoping the murdering thieves would have landed somewhere close, and they could catch them unawares while they slept. They couldn't just attack the ship, either, assuming that the stolen girls were still on it. This was going to have to be a stealth mission; a perfect opportunity for Kanan to use his Jedi skills without consequences.

Kanan was looking forward to it, missing the days when he was almost constantly using his skills during the war with the Separatists.

Spotting a gleam of silver parked near a river, the ex Jedi's heart sped up slightly with excitement at a possible sighting of his prey. Circling around, he inspected the diamond shaped ship and recognized it right away. _It's the same one that the pirates had flown away in on Takodana! The pirates who killed Kasmir over a game of sabacc. Bastards._

Kanan still had the bag of loot from that game, but he'd never had the heart to open it. He hadn't needed the credits, and it brought back bad memories.

Now he had the chance to avenge his friend, he was going to take it, even if vengeance wasn't the Jedi way.

Kanan called Cham and gave him the coordinates of his location after he landed within a reasonable walking distance away from the pirate ship.

A lightly snarling orange skinned Twi'lek General landed beside him fifteen minutes later, looking about ready to rip apart the pirates with his bare hands and sharply pointed teeth. Kanan was glad the man had never looked at him like that and hoped he never gave him a reason to do so.

After coming up with a plan of attack, they walked towards their quarry.

Kanan approached the ship quietly, with Cham following behind, noting that it seemed to be asleep for the night, like they'd hoped, no lights showing from the transparisteel areas at the front. Stopping at the cargo bay door under the bubble of the cockpit, Kanan closed his eyes and reached towards it, letting the Force swirl through him, he felt the opening mechanism and triggered it. He opened his eyes with a small smile when Cham clapped him on the back.

They walked silently up the ramp, blasters drawn, ready for anything.

What they found was basically expected, but it still hurt to see.

A dozen girls, bound and gagged, were in the cargo hold, all passed out, hopefully just drugged or exhausted. Other than that, they appeared unhurt. _Which makes sense, I guess. You get more money for an untouched slave than a used and abused one._

They also found at least twenty crates of expensive spices, which Kanan was sure the owners would be ecstatic to get back.

Leaving the girls for the moment, since they weren't in immediate danger, Kanan followed his Force senses up the ladder, through the empty cockpit, and into the hallway of crew quarters. With a wave of his hand, he opened each door and methodically stunned the sleeping occupants of every bunk, leaving Cham to follow in his wake to tie them up. After that was done, Kanan swept the ship with his senses again and followed them further down the hallway, going through another door and past a ladder that led up to the top gun turret.

Kanan opened the last door between himself and his target. Calmly striding into the common room, he pointed his blaster at the pirate Captain. The man who'd murdered Kasmir in cold blood.

The grey haired male looked up blearily from where his head had been resting on a dejarik table, a bottle of alcohol falling from surprised fingers and breaking on the floor as he jerked upright at the sight of Kanan. "You!" he said.

Kanan looked at the wasted man with cold eyes, his fingers tightening on his blaster and thumb stroking over the switch to change the setting to deadly as opposed to stun, the need for revenge riding him hard. But something held him back. Whether it was just years of ingrained training, or an unwillingness to lower himself to the same level as the one in front of him, he didn't know.

But then the true reason struck him. "Yes, me. You killed my friend. I would execute you now for what you did, but that is too nice a way out for you. Instead, I'll let the relatives of the girls that you stole and the Twi'leks that you murdered have you. I'm sure whatever justice they give you will be well deserved."

The aging pirate fumbled for his blaster, but was stunned for his efforts, falling back into a slump over the table.

Not wanting to touch the pirate in case the urge to beat him up a bit took over, Kanan just stared at the unconscious man until Cham walked into the room a minute later and glared daggers at the unconscious Human. "I would have just killed him," he said.

Kanan looked at Cham for a moment before heading towards the front of the ship. "I seriously thought about it, although outright murder is not the Jedi way, even if I'm not exactly a Jedi anymore. Then I realized there were people out there who had even more of a claim on his life than I did. They deserve the chance to see him die in whatever fashion they deem appropriate."

Cham grunted and patted Kanan on the shoulder. "You are wise beyond your years, young Jedi." Kanan opened his mouth to protest, but Cham stopped him. "No, you are a Jedi. And you will always be a Jedi. At least to Hera and I. I've worked with the Jedi in the past, and you are just as noble as them, if not more so. You deserve the title."

Kanan smiled and nodded once in gratitude as he sat in the pilot's chair and started the ship. It was time to take the girls back home to whatever families they had left. And the pirates to their justice.

While Kanan flew, Cham untied all the girls, most of them trying to wake up groggily as he did so. He threw the pirates down in the cargo hold, and after stripping the bunks of their filthy covers, gently put the drugged girls in the bunks instead.

Cham took great pleasure in tossing the pirate captain down the ladder last, right after slapping him hard a few times so he was awake to feel the landing.

Then he stunned the despicable being again. Twice. Just because.


	7. Christening

**A/N: Part of what happens in this chapter can be found in one of Kanan's visions back in chapter 3, Destiny.**

**A/N 2: This chapter is sooooo much longer in the M version, lol. (Which I'll start posting tomorrow.) **

* * *

**Christening:**

_D56/17 BBY, Ryloth_

Hovering as close to the ground as he dared, Kanan dropped the two fighters as gently as possible from the bottom of the ship as he released the magnetic lock. Then he parked the modified freighter beside them at the back of the hangar, so Hera wouldn't see her seventeenth birthday present.

Cham hadn't been enthused about the idea, wanting the ship for himself, but Kanan had given him the Kasmiri in compensation. If things worked out the way Kanan hoped, he wouldn't need two ships anyway. He was perfectly happy to give the new freighter to Hera. She was by far the superior pilot, the best he'd ever seen in fact with the exception of possibly a few Jedi. She deserved to have a ship of her own.

Before coming home, Kanan and Cham had scrubbed the ex pirate ship from top to bottom and burned anything the pirates had touched. Any valuables were split up among the stolen girls to help them survive without their immediate families. The freighter sparkled now, both inside and out. It had taken a whole day of work to make that happen, since the ship had looked like it hadn't been cleaned in years. The grateful Twi'leks from the last village they had stopped in before capturing the pirates had helped, washing the outside and giving it a fresh paint job.

Kanan hoped Hera liked her present after they'd put so much work into it. Cham had even come around after a while and gotten into the spirit of the idea. They had grinned at each other when the ship was done, both of them looking just as filthy as the ship once had. They'd then purchased themselves some new clothes and hurried back into their gleaming masterpiece, eager to get home in time for Hera's birthday.

Now, the two males grinned at each other conspiratorially as they walked down the ramp of what Kanan thought might be the most epic birthday present ever. He went into the hangar, sensing Hera's distinct presence in there (where else would she be?), and Cham hid around the corner of the building so he could watch his daughter's reaction.

Cham knew this was a special moment between the young couple, but he just had to see. So he waited eagerly for Kanan to bring her out, drumming his fingers as the minutes ticked by. _I don't even want to think about what's going on there that could be taking them so long, _he thought with a huff.

Finally, they appeared, Kanan leading her by the hands as she walked with her eyes closed. He positioned her carefully with hands on her shoulders and then said, "Happy birthday, Hera."

His daughter gasped, her eyes opening wide in surprised wonder, and face lighting up like Cham hadn't seen since she was just a tiny toddler and had seen her first mound of brightly wrapped Life Day presents. _Kanan was right to talk me into this. _After a few gawking seconds, she all but squealed, "A ship?! You got me a ship?!"

"I did," the Human boy said almost humbly, hugging her from behind and resting his goateed chin her shoulder. "What do you think of it?"

Hera shook her head slowly, eyes still wide as she traced the clean lines of the freighter with an adoring gaze. "Kanan, it's beautiful! Where did you get it?" she cried, before whirling and kissing the boy for a full minute in a passionate way that had Cham looking away in discomfort.

Then she whirled back around, not giving Kanan a chance to answer her question, and ran to go see her new ship, with her besotted mate following behind wearing a lot of grease all over his new clothes and a dopey smile that Cham honestly couldn't blame him for. Chuckling, the elder Syndulla smiled contentedly to himself and walked to his house, leaving the two love-smitten teenagers alone.

* * *

Hera LOVED her present. It was the prettiest ship she'd ever seen. She explored every inch of it. From the engine room, to the nose gun / work station area, to the crew quarters, to the common room and the galley, the refresher and med bay, the two hallways that led to docking bays on either side of the ship, the top gun turret, and up a ladder that seemed to lead to nowhere; just a short hallway with a door that opened to the top of the ship.

She finished her tour back in the cockpit, gawking over every little instrument panel and trying out her new chair. Kanan sat beside her and looked at her with hopeful puppy eyes that all but melted her already overfull heart. "So, what do you think?"

Hera gave her brilliant mate a radiant smile. "It's perfect, Kanan! Just perfect! It has everything we need to fight the Empire."

"But we're already fighting the Empire," Kanan said, now looking confused.

_Okay, only selectively brilliant. Why do males never seem to get the important things?_

She shook her head. "No, Kanan. You and Father are fighting the Empire. I am just sitting here, doing nothing."

"Oh," Kanan winced.

"Yes, oh." Then Hera dropped the bomb she'd been thinking about for a long time but hadn't quite found the catalyst needed to inspire it.

But now she had.

And it was kriffing amazing. _(My own ship!)_

"If Father won't let me fight on this planet, then I want to go to a different planet and fight them there. The whole Outer Rim even. I know the Empire aren't oppressing just my people. There are others out there that could use our help just as much."

Her mate looked at her with an expression that could only be called conflicted, his mouth opening a couple times, but nothing coming out.

Sensing that he needed help to come to the right decision, Hera stood and walked one step over to sit in his lap and put her arms around his neck. Then she adopted her best begging look. "Please, love? I really want this."

* * *

Kanan stared into Hera's beautiful gem green eyes and found himself making a choice that he hoped he wouldn't regret too much.

He knew that Cham wasn't going to like it, and it might even cause a permanent rift in their friendship, but Hera was his everything. He would do anything for her. _Even wander the galaxy with her and take potshots at kriffing Star Destroyers if that's what she wants_. Kanan sighed and kissed her cute nose. "All right, darling. If it comes to that, if your father still won't let you fight with us, even with this great ship, then we'll leave Ryloth."

He knew he'd said the right thing when she squeaked happily and then pressed kisses all over his face. Smiling, he captured her lips with his own and pulled her body tighter against his, loving the feel of her sweet softness and the even sweeter taste of her mouth. It wasn't very Jedi of him, but you couldn't have pried him away from her right now short of the end of the world. And even then... He'd probably just grin and think he'd died the happiest of males.

Kanan was very much attached to his wonderful Hera, and he intended to stay that way for the rest of eternity.

They quickly got lost in the heat of the moment. Hands were sliding under clothes. Tongues were tangling. Moans and whimpers echoed through the space. Breaths were coming in gasps.

And that was just the first five minutes.

Kanan tore his mouth from hers with a reluctant groan and pressed his forehead to her shoulder while he talked his body back down to something resembling being in control. Despite how unfair it was, he just couldn't seem to stop his hands from caressing an exploratory path up and down her lekku. The marked headtails fascinated him beyond measure; they were just so responsive to touch. Right now, they curled towards his arms and quivered with fine shivers with every pass of his hands. He could feel through Hera's emotions how delightfully turned on this made her, which fuelled his own desire in turn.

_Not. Helping._

With a determination that deserved an award or something, Kanan moved his hands to the much safer territory of her back, but that just allowed his attention to focus on what Hera was doing with her hands. He sucked in a breath. _Frag, I'm in so much trouble._

* * *

_An intense, half clothed and unknown period of time later..._

With a contented sounding moan that reminded him of a kitten, Hera found his lips again and nibbled sweet kisses along their sensitive length until he took over and turned it into a proper kiss for a solid, breath-stealing minute. Then he let his head fall back to the floor with a groan and a tired smile. "I think you've killed me, Hera."

She rubbed her bare chest against his just a little bit on purpose as she settled into a comfortable spot. He could sense the way her body was still humming with pleasure in the Force and it made him feel very proud indeed. The satisfied smirk on her kiss-swollen lips just added to it as she murmured, "You're welcome, love."

Kanan hummphed good naturedly and closed his eyes, savouring the moment and ingraining it into his memory for future consideration.

Which turned into more than several minutes as they both drifted off into a light doze.

When he opened his eyes again Kanan groaned from his sprawl on the floor between the seats, with Hera draped over his body. The floor was kriffing hard, but it had been worth every minute of it. His beautiful light green Twi'lek hummed contentedly and rubbed her face against his shoulder like a tooka. _Force. I'm a lucky bastard._

* * *

Hera opened her eyes when Kanan gently petted a lek to get her attention. She propped her chin on his chest, raising a brow in question. "Yes, my handsome lover?"

Kanan blinked and then grinned like a youngling. "Lover. Heeeee. I suppose that applies now."

"It does," she giggled. "But you had something else to say, I'm sure of it."

His expression settled a fraction. "Um, yeah. I was just wondering what you were going to call your new ship?" he asked.

Hera blinked. "Seriously? That's what you come up with after everything we just did?"

The clueless nerfherder half shrugged. "Yeah. What's wrong with the question? I've been wondering what you'd call it for the last day and a half or so."

The exasperated female rolled her eyes at her clueless fiancé. _Males really are the less intelligent gender. Yeesh._

She thought about getting up and storming off, but decided it wasn't worth the effort. Kanan had literally loved her to almost death_. At least he has that part right._ With a sigh, she readjusted her arms and hugged him. "Kanan, you're lacking a few brain cells if you think that question was appropriate at the end of a romantic moment, but I love you anyway."

She almost laughed when her mate thunked the back of his head into the floor a couple times when he finally clued in to her point. "I'm sorry, darling. I'll make it up to you later. When I can move again." He raised his head again and rubbed her back in apology. "I love you, Hera, with my missing brain cells and all."

Hera laughed and pressed a kiss to his mouth. "Apology accepted, my poor, gender afflicted mate."

"Hey!" he protested mildly, a grin playing with the corner of his mouth. "It's not my fault that all my blood fled south and is taking its time returning to more northern climes."

Her snorted. "I suppose it's mine, then?"

"Most definitely."

She smiled with lots of teeth at him and then settled her cheek against his naked shoulder before closing her eyes again and inhaling his pleasant musky male scent that was almost enough to inspire her to make him start all over. "I suppose I can live with that," she murmured teasingly.

"You'll have to," he rumbled back under her ear before kissing her temple lovingly.

Hera drifted for a while, her mind now preoccupied with the original question. _What AM I going to call my new ship?_

Her marvelous birthday present had many unique features for a freighter, including some impressive guns, but one thing was an incredibly rare find; it had a sensor scrambler, allowing it to fool with the sensor readings of other ships, making the freighter invisible to them._ Like a ghost._

_Ooooo, that's good. I'll go with with that._

"The Ghost," she said randomly into the peaceful silence, raising her head a bit to look at him, making Kanan open his eyes and startle a little, since he'd drifted off again.

"What?" he asked, looking adorably confused.

"I'm calling our new ship the Ghost," Hera said again.

Kanan smiled, hugged her loosely, and closed his eyes again before mumbling sleepily, "I like it. The Ghost it is."


End file.
